Things Pile On
by Out Of Sheol
Summary: When your family is messed up, the fangirls give you a migraine, and your teacher ogles you in a way that makes your stomach heave…there’s no way you can handle having sexual feelings for your best friend, especially when he’s a guy! SasuNaruSasu
1. Rustling, vampires, & friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto–obviously…

Warning: This story is rated **M** for the following: foul **language**,** shōnen-ai** (boy-love) and **yaoi** related themes, **sexual content** and** sexual molestation**. This may not be apparent within the first several chapters however later on expect to see explicit sexual content and other mature themes. Therefore, if any of this bothers you, please don't read—I promise I won't feel bad. Again, this story will contain **SLASH** among other mature themes, so you've been warned!

Pairing: SasuNaruSasu

A/N: This is an AU story where Naruto and Sasuke are regular guys that attend high school. Regular enough if you don't count the fact that Sasuke had a tragic past that involves his older brother and the fact that he now lives alone, and that Naruto never had a family and is hated by the town for reasons even he doesn't know.

Criticism: I take all criticisms (though, where and how I can improve are always more effective–obviously). However, anything goes; just tell me what you think! I will reply to all reviews on this story!

Synopsis: When your family is messed up, the fangirls give you a migraine, and your teacher ogles you in a way that makes your stomach heave…there's no way you can handle having sexual feelings for your best friend, especially when he's a guy! You certainly don't need your friend having crazy, sexual feelings of his own. Yup, Sasuke's life just got all the more complicated.

* * *

**Things Pile On**

**Chapter 1: Rustling matches, Vampires, and Friends that won't keep their distance.**

Sasuke answered the knocking on his door twenty minutes after the pounding begun.

"You're late." He said, as Naruto brushed in past him.

"You should talk, teme, what took you forever to open that damn door anyway?" Naruto made his way over to the couch placing the movie he brought on the coffee table before he sprawled out onto the cool, black leather. "I mean was I supposed to live out there or what?"

"Well, next time be on time and you won't have that problem."

Naruto growled, his face scrunching up, "You better not be saying you left me out there on purpose."

Sasuke's facial features remained their usual stoic expression, before he gave a quick smirk. "So what if I did?"

Naruto jumped off the couch. "Well, then I'll have to kick your ass!"

Sasuke gave him a look which clearly said _like you can?_

Naruto growled again and pounced at Sasuke, who jumped out of the way which caused Naruto to smack into the wall Sasuke had been leaning against.

"Bastard," Naruto said, straightening up. "If you would just stay still, and not run like a coward, maybe I could."

"Running like a coward and avoiding your ballistic attack are two different things, dobe."

Naruto smirked. "Sounds like a lame excuse from a 'wittle scaredy cat?"

"Like I'm gonna fall for that," Sasuke said, yet he still stood in the clearing of the living room as if daring Naruto to try.

"Don't worry, 'wittle scaredy cat, I promise I won't hurt you." Naruto taunted, "Much." And then he charged at Sasuke. Sasuke braced himself as Naruto collided with him. Naruto fought to get hold of Sasuke's arms, but Sasuke pinned his arms in a hold first.

Naruto growled._ Stupid Sasuke_, he thought._ How does he have such damn quick reflexes?_

Naruto however, wasn't very light—due to the lingering presence of baby fat that was slowly transforming into muscle the older he got. Needless to say he used that to his advantage, shoving his body weight into Sasuke. At first Sasuke matched Naruto's weight with his own strength and held his ground. However, the more his focus went on trying to keep hold of Naruto the more he compromised his stance. Slowly, Sasuke began to back up. The coffee table was a meager two feet behind them; its sharp edges sending silent promises of pain to the unfortunate idiot who decided to go up against it.

Naruto, facing the direction of the approaching coffee table, smirked. He could use it to his advantage. He might not have been the naturally gifted bastard that Sasuke was, however, he had his own strengths that had allowed him to meet and on his good days beat his rival.

Sasuke, obviously being familiar with the placement of the furniture in his own house, knew just what Naruto was smirking at. _Idiot_, Sasuke thought, _like the moron's face would be obvious enough even if I didn't know my own place._ But unlike Naruto, Sasuke's face remained stoic, only tensing a little as he tried to maintain his hold on Naruto.

"Give it up, dobe, there's no way you're gonna get out of my hold." Sasuke said, though now more of a bluff to try to stop Naruto from running him into the glass edge of the coffee table behind him.

"Don't worry," Naruto said with a smirk, "I'm not trying to." And with that, Sasuke's calf muscle met with the coffee table's edge. However, if he didn't mind the rising pain from the edge going into his skin—and Sasuke didn't—it could serve as a perfect anchor. Then, he could focus on maintaining his grip on Naruto and overpowering him.

Suddenly, Naruto used his body weight to push Sasuke roughly to try to get him to fall onto the table—Sasuke's balance shook as he tried to not fall backwards onto the glass. Then Naruto hooked his foot around Sasuke's ankle, and pulled him in the opposite direction. Sasuke's balance gave out and Naruto's weight carried them backwards to the carpeted floor.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Sasuke landed painfully on top of him. Naruto choked; Sasuke was far heavier then one would first think given his normal grace and agility. Now it was Sasuke's turn to smirk at the misfortune that had befallen Naruto. _Looks like his plan bit him in the ass._

However, the fall had loosened Sasuke's grip on Naruto's wrists, and Naruto broke free, sending a punch at Sasuke's face; that only brushed his cheek, before Sasuke shoved it away. But, it was enough of a distraction to allow Naruto to force Sasuke beneath him. _Bastard, let's see him get out of this one_. Naruto thought, he was grinning shamelessly now. Sasuke, scowling tried to grab for Naruto's spiky, blond turfs of hair.

"Ow," Naruto cried out, as one of Sasuke's hands finally got past his barrier of arms and yanked at a thick clump of his hair. Sasuke smirked at Naruto's reaction; though his smirk was now almost a real smile. Angrily, Naruto threw Sasuke's hands down, and pressed all of his body weight into Sasuke.

Uncontrollably, Sasuke made a sound that resembled something between a grunt and a gasp. Naruto's face was now only a couple of inches from his own; Naruto's hands were pressing his hands firmly against the ground. Sasuke could feel the heat of Naruto's breath; uncontrollably he became aware of Naruto's body pressing into his own. He could feel the tight contours of Naruto's forearms as they pressed into his arms, Naruto's calloused hands gripping his hands, the tips of Sasuke's fingers bending slightly over Naruto's fingers in response. He winced as he felt Naruto press his thighs deeper into his; this close Naruto's jeans didn't do much for containing what lay beneath. For a moment, Sasuke stopped breathing; Naruto was too close.

Naruto meanwhile was looking down at Sasuke. From this close to him, he could see the smooth pores on his face, the beads of sweat forming on his brow, and the slight tremble of his lips. Naruto's eyes lingered on Sasuke's lips; for a moment, he wanted to know what his friend tasted like. For a moment, then he seemed to come to himself. _What the hell am I thinking that for?_

Sasuke, still pinned beneath his friend, could clearly see into Naruto's blue eyes. Sasuke's breathe hitched. He had never looked into his friend's eyes from this close before. Now that he thought of it, he never noticed just how clear those eyes were before, a brilliant, clear blue that would have given the sky a run for its money. _As if I would care to notice that?_ Suddenly angry, Sasuke shoved his head into Naruto's. With a quick "ow" Naruto lost his grip and Sasuke shoved him off of him.

"Dammit, bastard!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his forehead. He had rolled into a sitting position on the floor; Sasuke, sitting up a little ways away from him, gave a snort.

"Well, what the hell were you trying to do, crush the life out of me with your fat ass?"

"I'm not fat," Naruto said, still rubbing his head, "And I really will crush the life out of you, if you don't stop acting like a jackass."

Sasuke stared at him indignantly then he trampled Naruto to the ground again, roughly throwing punches into his chest and stomach. Roughly, but not too much for Naruto who quickly recovered from his shock and returned Sasuke's force, throwing punches of his own. They rustled around on the floor, grabbing at each other, punching; each trying to force the other beneath him. Sasuke didn't know quite why but he felt the sudden urge to hurt his friend. There was still a part of him that was playing but another part felt pretty pissed. Sasuke wasn't really sure why he was feeling pissed, but he was, and so he took it out on Naruto. Or at least he tried too, Naruto might not have been a natural born genus, but when it came to keeping up with Sasuke somehow he managed to do just fine.

Suddenly, as if he sensed the anger in his friend, Naruto growled.

"What the hell did I do, Sasuke-teme?"

Through Sasuke's outburst of anger he managed to pin Naruto to the ground. Dark strains of Sasuke's hair fell onto Naruto's face.

Sasuke hissed, and shoved him into the ground.

"What the hell!" Naruto growled, baring his teeth. He was about to head bang Sasuke the way that bastard had done to him earlier but then he saw that his friend had somewhat froze on top of him, as if he was seeing something for the first time.

From this angle though, Naruto could plainly see why most of the girls in his class (and lots of the boys too, though Naruto wasn't really aware of that) followed Sasuke around. As if his seemed-to-be perfectly smooth and flawless face, shrouded by thick, dark hair wasn't enough, Sasuke's eyes were mesmerizing, deep brown orbs that almost looked black. Not to mention, with Sasuke lying on top of him, he could feel the firmness and strength of his body. Suddenly Naruto began to wonder just how firm Sasuke really was underneath; momentarily, he had an urge to stick his hand inside his friend's shirt. And if his hands weren't pinned to the floor, he probably would have. _What the hell?_ He mentally slapped himself. _Why the fuck would I want to do anything like that!_

Sasuke meanwhile was wondering how he had gotten himself into a similar situation as before, when a sudden numbness began to overcome his mind. He felt his body begin to react to the fact that he was on top of—and leaning over—Naruto. Again, he could feel Naruto's breathing, warm and moist, on his face. Again, he could look into his eyes; now, the contour of Naruto's body could be easily felt as he pressed his weight into him to hold him in place. He felt his face begin to get hot. This was too much; without a second thought, he quickly got off of Naruto and turned away to hide his reddened cheeks.

Naruto just lay there for a while, glad that Sasuke was looking the other direction. His face felt fluster and he was starting to feel like a total moron. Just then, Sasuke pushed himself off of the floor and said—still not looking at Naruto: "I'm bored of this, what'd you bring anyway?"

Sasuke grabbed the DVD off of the coffee table.

Naruto jumped off of the floor as well, all embarrassment forgotten. "Oh, it's really cool; it's about this town that's up in Alaska, so it gets nights that last a whole month, and then—" Naruto had made his way over to Sasuke and was now waving his arms wildly, caught up with describing in motion what he was saying in words. "Then, vampires come to the town, and you know, since it's a month full of night, they get to raise hell."

"Hn," Sasuke said absently, such a contrast to Naruto's enthusiasm. "Sounds okay; let's watch it." Without waiting for Naruto to reply, Sasuke removed the DVD from its case and went over to place it in the DVD player. Naruto in turn went over to turn off the lights. When he got back to the couch, Sasuke was already sprawled on the far left side, resting his head on the arm of the couch. Naruto went to sit on the opposite side of the couch, leaning on the opposite arm in a similar manner as Sasuke.

The movie started, the first of the many commercials beginning…

"Oh, that sounds good, let's see it," Naruto said enthusiastically. Sasuke just nodded.

Next commercial: "I can't wait for that one." Naruto exclaimed cheerfully. Sasuke rolled his eyes, "You've got to be kidding me; how old are you again?"

"Gonna' be fifteen," Naruto said, "But what the hell is wrong with that? A good movie is a good movie."

"Yeah that's true; but that doesn't fall in the category of the good movie." Sasuke said dryly, "Let's see: thirteen-year-old moron with a miserable life finds out he's really some epic hero of some bullshit legend and saves the day, restoring his miserable life in the process."

"Well, thirteen that's about our age—" Naruto interrupted.

"Guess it is targeted towards you then, loser." Sasuke rolled over, so that his side was prompted up against the arm of the couch. "But I don't buy that crap; not only is it overdone but it's a load of shit."

Then Sasuke smirked: "Though I suppose thirteen is closer to your age then mine, dobe."

"Shut-up, Sasuke-teme." Naruto growled, throwing one of the decorative pillows over to peg Sasuke on the head, "You're only a few months older than me!"

"Ouch, looser," Sasuke grunted. "Just 'cause your dumb enough to identify with the little kiddies, doesn't mean I'm as stupid as you."

Naruto snorted and just rolled his eyes, unable to comment because the actual movie was beginning. Both of them watched; neither talked for a bit. Sasuke now lying on the couch, using the pillow Naruto had thrown at him as a cushion to prompt up against the arm of the couch. Every so often, his foot would kick Naruto accidentally as he tried to get comfortable. "Dammit Sasuke, keep to your side of the couch," Naruto whined, swatting at his foot.

About thirty minutes in to the film, Naruto was starting to get antsy. Sasuke, however having fidgeted for the first ten minutes, finally found a comfortable zone and stayed put. Naruto at first was just bouncing up and down in his seat.

"So, what'd you think is gonna' happened?" Naruto said, a big smile on his face. His voice a little too loud, as if talking was reminding him that he wasn't actually in the movie.

"How am I supposed to know; it's not like I read the script." Sasuke said annoyed.

Suddenly, the television screamed out as on the screen suspense turned into horror. Naruto jumped visibly, only to be met with laughter?

Sasuke was laughing; his face was turned towards Naruto. Every so often he tried to restrain himself into just smirking, but it only lasted for a few moments, before another wave of laughter shook his shoulders.

"You should—have seen—your face, Naruto," Sasuke said between burst of laughter.

"Shut up, teme," Naruto said, secretly grateful that he could replace his fear with anger.

Sasuke kept laughing.

Naruto growled again, "I said shut up, bastard." When Sasuke didn't stop Naruto subconsciously delved into an explanation for his behavior.

"I wasn't afraid; I was startled, okay," Naruto said, "But that's not the same thing." Sasuke just kept laughing; it looked like he was having difficult time breathing.

"If your head wasn't shoved so far up your ass, you'd notice there's a big difference between being afraid and just startled," Naruto continued; Sasuke was still laughing though it had died down a little.

"You can't help getting startled, it's like reflexes," Naruto said, still trying to justify his behavior.

"Whatever," Sasuke said, "You're shitting yourself over there and you know it."

Naruto gave him one last glare, before growling, "Shut up or I'll make you." Naruto's threat came at the same time when Sasuke must have laughed himself dry because while he still smirked, he stopped laughing.

Sasuke's laughter had made Naruto more aware of himself, so for awhile he suffered in silence. Still jumping but trying so very hard not too. Then however, about a little past midway through the movie, Naruto couldn't take it anymore, sitting up he grabbed the last decorative pillow and put it between him and the terror.

"Come on, wuss, you're not actually hiding."

"No one is asking you Sasuke," Naruto said hurriedly, all his attention on the television, "So shut up and just live and let live, bastard!"

Sasuke smirked; again he looked over towards Naruto. The blonde was using the pillow as a fox trench, ducking for cover whenever the scene looked as if the inevitable would happen.

Then suddenly, Naruto jumped up off of the couch pointing an angry finger at the television.

"Come on, that is so not fair!" Naruto yelled, "They cheated! They can't just drop in there from the middle of nowhere; they can't do that! I can't believe it, she had made it!"

Sasuke arched an eyebrow. He too was a bit letdown that the leading heroine was being dragged by a vampire out of what had previously been a safe area but, so much for that thought…. It did seem to be a waste of all of the time she had spent surviving only to get killed now.

"Oh man!" Naruto cringed and turned away from the T.V. "Of course, they have to tear her up; that's SO not fair!"

"Sit down, you're gonna give yourself a nosebleed from all the excitement," Sasuke said in his usual bored voice, "It's not like they can hear you anyway."

Naruto still seemed to be pouting about loosing his favorite heroine, but he complied. So the movie went onward, Naruto making only small grunts or yelps here and there. Finally the movie ended. Naruto didn't seem as enthusiastic as he had been when the movie was first turned on. Sasuke picked up on it and decided to have some fun with his friend who had suddenly become way too easy of a target.

"So, not so happy anymore, now that you can't have your happy_ I'm-a-thirteen-year-old-gullible-moron _ending are you?"

"Shut up, Mr. _everyone-must-die-since-life-sucks_, hopeless bastard." Naruto countered, "You know, just cause you have given up on life don't expect me too."

"So, now I've given up on life, since I can admit that it's not always fair."

"Just shut up Sasuke-teme," Naruto said, still thinking about the movie, "All I wanted was for those two to actually make it; not everyone, just those two!"

Sasuke got up to turn back on the light. Naruto was still moping on the couch. "Stupid movie, and you said it was good too Sasuke-teme."

"What?" Sasuke was now putting the DVD back in its case, "I'm not the idiot that wouldn't shut up about how great it was supposed to be; that'd be you, dobe."

"Hm," Naruto grunted, his face pressing into the arm of the couch, ignoring Sasuke, "Stupid movie."

"Well," Sasuke said, "It's already one in the morning, you should get going, we still have to wake up for school in the morning."

"Get going?" Naruto almost choked. "You want me to go outside—in the dark—after watching THAT movie!"

"Naruto don't be dumb," Sasuke said, rolling his neck to get the crick out of it, caused probably from sitting too long on the couch. "It's just a stupid movie."

"So you honestly don't care if I go out there and get bitten to an inch of my life?"

"Naruto, vampires don't exist." Sasuke sighed, "Perhaps you really should have watched that stupid thirteen-year-old movie."

"Fine, some good friend you are," Naruto huffed, throwing the decorative pillow down onto the couch as he stood up, "I wouldn't make you go out there."

"Fucking grow up, it's just a stupid movie; you know fake." Sasuke said. He didn't realize just how tired he was until about now.

"Well, why don't you go out there then?"

"Cause it's my house, moron."

"You're such an asshole; you know I'd let you stay."

"Well, where are you gonna sleep, on the couch?"

"Yeah," Naruto said laying back down on the couch again, "You know, I definitely think I could."

"And what about your change of clothes; you gonna' wear the same thing for school tomorrow?"

"No, I could wear some of your clothes." Naruto said, as if he had suddenly gotten a brilliant idea. There was no mistaking the naiveté in his voice, as if he thought that Sasuke was the sort of person who would just jump at the offer.

"Yeah, fucking, right." Sasuke said almost too quickly.

"Well ok then," Naruto replied, feigning hurt, "I guess you know who your true friends are; just like poor Denise when Jake kicked her out, you just knew she was a gonner right there and then."

"Naruto will you forget about that stupid movie," Sasuke practically yelled, he was beyond annoyed now, "I'm sorry it didn't have a stupid, happy ending." Though he didn't sound even remotely sorry, just more frustrated, if possible.

"Fine, you can stay and sleep on the couch," Sasuke continued, "But if you dare come near any of my clothes, that movie is gonna' look incredibly optimistic when compared to what will happen to you."

* * *

"Hey, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto asked, as the two of them were standing in Sasuke's bathroom, getting ready for bed.

"Hm?" Sasuke replied.

"Can I borrow your toothbrush," Naruto said, then faltered, "Er, I mean, can I just use it this once?"

"Naruto, what would possess you to ask me that," Sasuke said, splashing more water over his face, "You already know the answer."

"Yes?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"No, moron."

"Always with the insults," Naruto said, again feigning hurt, "Jeez, you'd think you actually hate having me around."

Sasuke just rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Taking the toothpaste Naruto applied some onto his finger.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing," Naruto said, "And you call me a moron; I'm obviously not NOT going to brush my teeth, so this is the next best thing."

"Idiot," Sasuke said, pulling open a drawer and taking out a brand new toothbrush still in the case. He handled it to Naruto: "Just use this."

Naruto spit out the toothpaste already in his mouth into the sink, coming up sputtering. "You didn't think to get that when I asked you for one?" Naruto grabbed the toothbrush from Sasuke's hand. "And I'm the moron, seriously, Sasuke."

"Shut up, dobe," Sasuke said, the stoic expression still on his face, then he smirked, "You asked to borrow mine, not for one of your own."

"Bastard," Naruto mumbled under his breath, "I swear, of all the times to get technical."

Sasuke again only smirked and left the bathroom. Naruto rolled his eyes at Sasuke's retreating back before he popped open the box containing the new toothbrush and began to actually brush his teeth.

Coming out of Sasuke's bathroom Naruto had expected to see him in his room, but not finding him there, Naruto went out to the living room. He saw Sasuke putting on the last layer of sheets over the couch. For a moment, Naruto paused. _Is Sasuke actually making my bed for me?_

Naruto took a moment to examine Sasuke's handiwork. Sasuke had applied a base sheet over the entire couch, and then he had placed a rather fluffy and comfortable looking pillow on one end. Covering the entire couch, Sasuke had spread a sheet which looked thick enough for warmth, but not overbearing, just enough to do the job of keeping one comfortable during the night.

Sasuke looked up at him after he was finished placing a thicker, folded comforter on the end of the couch. Naruto stood there with his mouth slightly opened; perhaps it was a simple gesture but it was a lot coming from Sasuke.

"What?" Sasuke asked, noticing Naruto's slightly hanging jaw.

"N-nothing," Naruto said, slowly at first, before his tone went back to normal.

"Anyways," Sasuke said, "If you need anything else, just ask."

"What the hell," Naruto said before he could stop himself, "Sasuke, a caring host? Who would have thought?"

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke said, his voice trying to come out as annoyed, "Unless you want to sleep on the floor."

"Well, I have to ask," Naruto said, "You never know, you might have been dragged out of the door by a vampire just now and now he is impersonating you, but doing a very shitty job."

"Naruto, shut up before I drag _you_ out of the door."

"I don't know," Naruto said, drawing out his voice as if he is investigating, "You look like Sasuke, but perhaps the moment I touch you, you'll transform into the vampire you are."

Sasuke rolled his eyes giving him the look that said: _I can't believe I'm even humoring you enough to stand here._

Naruto pressed onward anyway, "Let's review the facts: you gave me a toothbrush and you made my bed, yup definitely not something Sasuke would be doing." As he talked he walked over to Sasuke and then poked him in the shoulder. Sasuke just stared at him for a moment. Naruto cracked a smile. He moved a bit closer. "You didn't turn into a vampire yet?"

"Of course not, moron," Sasuke said, yet there was something different about his voice; he meant it to come out as sarcastic, but instead it just came out neutral.

One more step and Naruto would be pressed against Sasuke. From this distance the height difference between them was more noticeable then normal. It was still a debate among them just how much taller Sasuke actually was than Naruto. According to Naruto, Sasuke was only about a forehead taller than him; while Sasuke proudly declared that he was a good two inches more than that. In any case, Naruto had to look up slightly when he was this close to Sasuke; smiling his eyes drifted upwards to meet Sasuke's.

Sasuke was starting to feel uncomfortable again; Naruto was just a bit too close. This close, Sasuke could smell the mint toothpaste in Naruto's breath; this close, Sasuke could look into Naruto's clear, blue eyes; this close he could even see the light fluttering of Naruto's dark, blond eyelashes. Sasuke started to falter again, his breath becoming slightly uneven.

"Well, I suppose you are Sasuke," Naruto said at last, still meeting his gaze, "Or at least your disguise is too good for me to detect," Naruto's smile seemed to get a bit wider,

"However, there's only one way to be sure."

"Naruto, just stop acting like a mor—" Before he could finish Naruto hooked an arm around Sasuke's neck and play punched his stomach before he tackled him to the ground.

The two of them were rough housing on the floor, until Sasuke finally pinned Naruto to the ground.

Naruto was still smiling. Sasuke was on top of him again, pressing his body into his to hold him still. Sasuke's face above his, Sasuke's lips just inches away from his own. Slowly, Naruto's smile slipped off of his face, as the nearness of his friend registered in his mind.

Sasuke meanwhile, was pinning his friend to the ground. It was only when Naruto's smile slipped from his face that Sasuke felt two things: the first was that he liked the way Naruto smiled, and it was this thought that brought on the second feeling, that being frustration_: why the fuck do I always end up either being on top of, or underneath Naruto? It is not like we need to behave like this; we're getting a bit old for rustling around on the floor_. He couldn't help but feel self-conscious on top of his friend; as if at any moment now, Naruto would burst out laughing at how stupid he looked. And yet, his stupid body seemed to be thinking on a totally different level. Already he could feel—what was starting to become familiar and associated with being on top of, or beneath Naruto—his temperature rising, his face heating up and his body tensing. It was a fleeting thought that didn't last long in the rapids of his mind, but for one moment, he wanted to press his lips against Naruto's. _What the fuck is wrong with me?_

Naruto's heart was pounding; he thought for one moment—one horrifying moment—that Sasuke would lean down the small distance between them and kiss him. The thought horrified him and yet sent a wave of tingles down into his gut. Then the horror he was feeling brought about another feeling: embarrassment. _Why the hell are we staying like this; we must look ridiculous. I mean, what the hell, I'm thinking about Sasuke like this. Gross!_

Without another thought, Naruto shoved Sasuke off of him. This wasn't as difficult as he first thought it would be; only a little nudge and Sasuke complied with rolling off of him.

Again, Sasuke didn't look at Naruto.

"Moron," he said, then got up off of the ground, "I'm going to bed; don't you dare wake me about any stupid vampire shit." And with that he left the living room heading towards his room, not looking back at Naruto at all.

Naruto stared at his retreating back. _Stupid Sasuke, who the fuck would like him anyway, with that stick he has up his ass?_ Naruto pulled the top sheet covering the couch back roughly. _Stupid bastard, why the hell does he keep tackling me anyway?_ Naruto pounded on his pillow to get it puffy enough for his comfort. _I mean is he gay or something?_ Still angry Naruto lay down, for a moment he wanted to rip the carefully wrapped sheets off of the couch. _Probably, why else won't he leave my ass alone?_ Then Naruto finally felt comfortable; the base sheet seemed to hug the couch in just a way that Naruto actually felt that he was laying in a rather comfortable bed instead. "Stupid Sasuke," he muttered, "But he at least makes a warm bed." Soon he was fast asleep.

Sasuke lay awake in his bed. His body was still flustered. Plus he now felt stupid_. Why the hell can't Naruto keep his fucking distance?_ Sasuke rolled over to get more comfortable; he ended up lying on his other side. _Damn, he always gets so close to me; what the hell is he thinking?_ Trying to relax, Sasuke let his mind wander; these last thoughts still lingering in his mind. He glanced at the alarm clock on the nearby bed stand, "2:30 A.M." it read. _Great_, Sasuke thought. _It's gonna' suck having to not only get myself up but now Naruto too_. At the mention of Naruto, a strange tingling feeling fluttered in his stomach. Almost before he could stop himself, his mind wandered to the feelings of Naruto's body being pressed beneath him, the warmth of his moist breath against his face; Naruto's smile that turned serious, Naruto's features melting into a lustier haze that echoed in his deep, clear, blue eyes; then he felt himself moving down until his lips covered Naruto's. Sasuke snapped his eyes open. _What the hell is wrong with me?_

* * *

A/N: So, what do you guys think so far? Please, please (pouts puppy doggie eyes at reader) REVIEW and tell me what you think!

AND for all of you who are cursing me out right now, no I didn't go and blow the ending for you on 30 Days of Night! I haven't even seen the movie! Just thought I'd mess with you! hehe :P


	2. Wet dreams, cereal, & baby fat

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto–obviously…

Warning: This story is rated **M** for the following: foul **language**,** shōnen-ai** (boy-love) and **yaoi** related themes, **sexual content** and **sexual molestation**. This may not be apparent within the first several chapters however later on expect to see explicit sexual content and other mature themes. Therefore, if any of this bothers you, please don't read—I promise I won't feel bad. Again, this story will contain **SLASH** among other mature themes, so you've been warned!

Pairing: SasuNaruSasu

A/N: This is an AU story where Naruto and Sasuke are regular guys that attend high school. Regular enough if you don't count the fact that Sasuke had a tragic past that involves his older brother and the fact that he now lives alone, and that Naruto never had a family and is hated by the town for reasons even he doesn't know.

Criticism: I take all criticisms (though, where and how I can improve are always more effective–obviously). However, anything goes; just tell me what you think! I will reply to all reviews on this story!

Thanks: First off! Thanks to all of you who have reviewed! Comments always make my day :) And for you guys who favorited; a very nice compliment by the way! Thanks, you guys are great! And of course, thanks to all of you who read; be sure to review, so I can know what you guys think of it. Enjoy!

Synopsis: When your family is messed up, the fangirls give you a migraine, and your teacher ogles you in a way that makes your stomach heave…there's no way you can handle having sexual feelings for your best friend, especially when he's a guy! You certainly don't need your friend having crazy, sexual feelings of his own. Yup, Sasuke's life just got all the more complicated.

* * *

**Things Pile On**

**Chapter 2: Wet dreams, Breakfast cereal and Baby fat.**

The next morning, Sasuke opened his eyes drearily; he had been in the midst of a rather nice dream. He blinked; oh well, he couldn't really remember it anyways. The blare of his alarm clock was starting to make his head ache. Reaching for it blindly in the darkness, Sasuke slammed his palm down over the sleep button. Lazily, he let his arm drop back down to the bed.

Something felt weird. Suddenly his eyes widened and he jumped up into a sitting position. Was that wetness he was feeling? _What the hell?_ Since Sasuke had stopped wetting the bed along time ago—that dreadful behavior had stopped at around age seven or so—he knew it could only mean one thing. It must have been the dream.

Then, as if to confirm this, images sprung uncontrollably into his mental view:

_He was lying on his back; his fingers gripping sweat-stained sheets. His head lolling back in a state of ecstasy as sweet-fulfilling pleasure flooded his senses. He felt warm hands fondling his chest; the calloused fingers gliding over his skin in small circles before they began to trail down to his abdomen. But that hadn't been the source of the mind-numbing pleasure which had demanded him to do nothing but to simply enjoy it. The source came from lips that kissed and mouthed his shaft, before the mouth belonging to those soft lips engulfed him and continued sucking. "Na-naruto," he heard himself mumble, before another moan escaped his lips; the tongue inside those pleasure-giving lips rolled over and around the tip of his member. Somehow, he had managed to look down and was met with clear, blue eyes, and the flash of a smile before Naruto had went back to hungrily devouring him in a way that dulled his mind to anything but pleasure._

Sasuke felt his face redden; suddenly feeling embarrassed when he realized that those images were from the dream he'd been having just before he'd been awaken by his alarm. Slowly, his hand slipped over his boxers to inspect them; they felt drenched most heavily in the middle directly above the crotch. Sitting up, he could feel wetness running down his inner thighs.

_Shit_. Sasuke quickly got out of bed, removing his boxers and throwing them in the hamper basket near the walk-in closet. For a moment he could smell the scent of his own semen. _Shit._ Looking around as if he thought Naruto would come in at any second, he threw open his dresser, grabbed new boxers and rushed into his adjacent bathroom to clean himself up.

Ten minutes later, Sasuke left the bathroom and went to search his dresser for a set of clothes to wear for school. His thoughts were still running havoc in his mind; yet he refused to give them any attention. _It's not like I have control over what I dream._ Yet, despite this the thoughts wouldn't leave. Suddenly, he got angry, slamming his bottom drawer of his dresser shut with his foot. _What the fuck was Naruto doing in my dreams anyway?_

"Damn Naruto," Sasuke muttered, unable to contain himself any longer.

"Good morning to you too."

Sasuke spun around at the sound, only to find Naruto standing in his doorway looking drowsy.

"What the fuck are you doing in my doorway, were you spying on me?" Sasuke lashed out before he could stop himself.

"Jeez, what bit you in the ass so early in the morning," Naruto said, he still looked sleepy, "And I thought you were a bastard during the day; guess I didn't know this side of you."

From the way he said those last words, Sasuke thought that he might have been not fully dressed or something. Perhaps he had yet to put on pants and was only standing in front of Naruto in his shirt and boxers. His cheeks reddened before he could stop them as he quickly looked downward. He let out a breath he hadn't realize he'd been holding; thankfully he had already pulled on a pair of khaki shorts before he had slammed his bottom dresser drawer shut.

Trying to regulate his breathing, Sasuke looked up at Naruto. The idiot was still staring at him, the toothbrush that Sasuke had given him last night held in his right hand, the left one scratching the sleep out of his eye.

"Dammit, Naruto, knock much?" Sasuke said, his voice still annoyed.

"Well the door was opened," Naruto said, "How was I supposed to know you didn't want company?"

"Forget it." Sasuke said. He shoved past Naruto as he exited his room. To his surprise Naruto followed him.

"I wasn't spying on you," Naruto said, following Sasuke as he went into the kitchen, "I swear, I had just gotten there; I thought you saw me."

Sasuke had opened the door to the pantry. He still didn't look at Naruto, though he was beginning to feel relieved; Naruto hadn't seen him change into his clothes; Naruto hadn't been there to see him wake up. Naruto didn't know anything about what happened during the night. This last thought had been a mistake, because Sasuke felt his face flush. That dream had seemed so real. Sasuke walked into the pantry to retrieve some cereal from the second-to-bottom shelf.

"Sasuke?" Naruto said, his hand gripped the edge of the open pantry door; Sasuke could almost feel those rough, calloused fingers tracing small circles on his chest, slowly starting to trail down to his abdomen. How he had longed for those hands to go downward, those calloused fingers to wrap around him.

"You okay?" Naruto said. Sasuke snapped back to reality; he could feel his face burning. He inwardly sighed; no wonder why Naruto sounded so concerned, Sasuke's face must have been redder than the box of Lucky Charms he was holding. _Damn_, Sasuke cursed inwardly; that dream had been far too real. _Fucking Naruto, fucking dream._

"I'm fine," Sasuke spat, "Why the hell wouldn't I be?" _Fucking, stupid dream._ Sasuke pushed his way out of the pantry, smacking Naruto's hand away from the door as he shoved past the now angry blonde.

"Well for starters," Naruto spat, "You look like a fucking tomato."

"Just drop it, alright." Sasuke said, placing the box of cereal on the kitchen counter.

"Jeez, you don't have to fucking bite my head off," Naruto started, "I was just trying to see if you were okay, but see if I ever do that again—"

But then he stopped in mid-sentence because Sasuke was staring directly at him. Sasuke didn't look angry; instead, his dark onyx eyes were staring at him as if trying to look at all of him at once. Naruto stepped back slightly; Sasuke never looked at him like this, in fact, as long as he knew Sasuke he had never been one for making eye contact just a quick glance at him every so often.

"What do you want to eat?" Sasuke said annoyed, as if he had been waiting for Naruto to answer a question.

"Huh?" Naruto was really confused now; not to mention Sasuke staring at him like that had started to make his palms go sweaty. Though, it was too early in the morning for his brain to even begin to register this reaction his friend had evoked.

"Oh, breakfast, right," Naruto's voice scampered out, his mind trying to realign back to reality. "Well, I still have to brush my teeth first."

"Well go do it then," Sasuke replied, still annoyed, "Just tell me what you want so I can start making it."

"Y-you're gonna' make me food?" Naruto managed to get out, his brain wasn't really working as well as he would have liked.

"No, I'm just asking for the hell of it," Sasuke said, "Why else would I ask."

Naruto was beginning to get frustrated. "That's not what I meant, you bastard; since when do you want to make me breakfast anyway?"

"Since we are going to be late for school if we don't hurry up," Sasuke said now going back into the pantry before adding, "What do you want?"

"Um," Naruto started, "Got any ramen?"

"Nope," Sasuke was clearly frustrated now, "What else?"

"Aw man!" Naruto's brain finally snapped alert at the mention of not being able to enjoy ramen for breakfast. "You've got to be kidding me, you don't have ANY ramen??"

"Why is that such a life-altering revelation?" Sasuke's annoyed voice said from within the pantry, "Do I look like the kind of person who would be stock-loaded with ramen?"

"No," Naruto said indignantly, "But not even one packet, Sasuke-teme, even you have to have that?!"

"Get over it; what else do you want?"

"Aw," Naruto grumbled again.

"Pick something within the next five seconds, else you're gonna' have to get it yourself."

"Come on, Sasuke-teme, you must be hiding some ramen in there."

"One, two," Sasuke began to count off.

"None at all, even a left over pack," Naruto tried to get in before,

"Three, four…"

"Okay, okay," Naruto said, putting up his hands in defeat, even though Sasuke couldn't see the gesture. "Fine, I'll have whatever you're having."

"Dammit Naruto," Sasuke came out of the pantry grumbling, "You could have told me that when I was standing here, instead of making me go all the way in there again."

Naruto just shrugged. Then he went over to the breakfast bar and pulled up a stool next to where Sasuke would be sitting. Sasuke meanwhile was retrieving two bowls from the cabinet. "Thought you were gonna' brush your teeth?" he called out to Naruto from over his shoulder.

"Yeah well, I can do that after we eat." Naruto said, placing his toothbrush on the smooth, pearwood surface of the breakfast nook. He prompted his elbows up on the nook, and laid his head in his heads. Yawning sleepily he watched as Sasuke poured cereal into the two bowls, then went and opened the refrigerator to retrieve the milk. The small milk carton read "Whole Milk, grade A."

Naruto smiled then, "Hey that's the kind I normally get." Sasuke nodded.

The container looked like it was half empty; Sasuke would need to go to the store soon. Sasuke poured the milk into the two bowls, finishing the milk in the container in the process. Taking one bowl in one hand, he looped his index finger through the empty milk carton's handle then picked up the other bowl in the same hand. Before he sat down, he disposed of the carton in the trash—leaving the lid swinging in his wake—before he placed a bowl before Naruto.

Naruto looked down into the bowl, hum, Lucky Charms? He often thought Sasuke would eat the boring, healthy stuff, since he could be such a stick in the mud at times. But then again, Sasuke was his best friend after all; Naruto knew that he had to be some fun.

Sasuke was sitting beside him eating his cereal. He hadn't said a word. Naruto started to eat his cereal too. It wasn't ramen, but he liked Lucky Charms, so it was all good. Then a nice scent entered his nostrils. Naruto sniffed; the Lucky Charms smelt sugary. But that wasn't what he had smelted before, so he sniffed again. It was Sasuke. He smelled good, like clean clothes often smelled after a wash. Naruto leaned a little closer to Sasuke, already he could feel the warmth radiating off of his friend.

Naruto's shoulder brushed against Sasuke's. Sasuke looked up. _Since when did Naruto get that close?_ Naruto however just kept on eating as if nothing had happened. Sasuke was about to shove Naruto away, but the warmth coming from Naruto stopped him. He felt comfortable with his friend sitting next to him just minding his own business. He could feel his warmth, and yet he still felt like he had his own space. So silently complying to his friend's nearness, Sasuke kept eating, not drawing any attention to the fact that Naruto's shoulder was touching his.

Finally, he was done eating. Sasuke glanced quickly at his watch; he nearly flipped, it was almost seven o'clock! They had fifteen minutes to be in class or they would be late.

Naruto too had finished eating and was scraping the bowl to get all of the good stuff left on the sides. Then he stood up, "Can I have seconds?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Not if you want to be on time," Sasuke said, grabbing up his bowl and Naruto's too, which earned a "hey!" from Naruto in protest. "You still have to brush your teeth remember," Sasuke continued; stacking Naruto's bowl on top of his own, he held them in one hand and used the other to open the dishwasher.

"Yeah well," Naruto started, "I can do that in two seconds, and we can run to class so that will take ten, see."

"No," Sasuke said, "I don't see; if we do that you'll get indigestion." Sasuke had closed the dishwasher and was already on his way to the bathroom. "Plus, I'd like to see you brush your teeth in—what was it?—two seconds."

"Well, I'm still hungry," Naruto said, pouting his way behind Sasuke, "I can't go all the way until lunch time without eating."

"You just ate, so come on," Sasuke said, he had entered the bathroom and had opened a drawer containing his toothbrush. After removing his toothbrush from its box, he placed some toothpaste on the bristles and started brushing his teeth.

Naruto grabbed the toothpaste after him and applied it to his own toothbrush, which he had grabbed hastily off of the breakfast nook before he went after Sasuke. He was still grumbling. "Well, that may be enough for you, but I need to eat more," Naruto started brushing his teeth, still talking with the toothbrush popping out of his mouth, "Jeez, no wonder why you're such a stick, if that is all you eat in the morning."

"Shut up, Naruto, you could use the weight loss," Sasuke said, and smirked before he spit into the sink.

"I'm not fat," Naruto said through a mouthful of toothpaste, "this is muscle!" He bared a fist, curling his arm and pulling up his sleeve to show his bicep. Naruto's arm contained a little baby fat, yet despite that, his arm still showed the contours of what would eventually be a nice bicep, given a few more years.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow as if to say _if you say so_.

"Well let's see yours then," Naruto growled, "I doubt it's any better."

"Whatever," Sasuke said and placed his toothbrush back into its box before putting it back in the drawer.

Naruto laughed, quickly going to spit in the sink before he swallowed a mouthful of toothpaste. "Why the hell would you keep the toothbrush in the box after you've opened it?" he said, still laughing, "Damn, Sasuke, if that isn't anal I don't know what is."

"Whatever." Sasuke said, a little bit thankful that Naruto seemed to have changed the topic.

He went to leave the bathroom only to have Naruto grab him back.

"Come on, wuss," Naruto said, "Unless you're too wimpy and you don't want me to see."

_So much for changing the topic_. Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Naruto, just because you like to act like an idiot doesn't mean I like to."

Naruto wasn't letting Sasuke off that easily. "Rather, just 'cause I'm built doesn't mean you are." He said with a smirk.

Sasuke glared at him. He didn't want to take his shirt off. _Damn that idiot, like I'm going to go down to his level._ With that Sasuke left the bathroom. This time Naruto just followed, snickering all the way.

"It's okay, Sasuke I understand if you don't really," he continued, "I mean with how little you eat, I totally know you'll look all shrimpy and stuff."

Sasuke stopped abruptly. Why did he always end up giving in to Naruto's childish behavior? However, the thought of letting Naruto call him that and get away with it, just didn't register with Sasuke.

"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke snapped, then, before even he knew what he was doing, he yanked off of his shirt and flexed his arms. Naruto smiled. Sasuke wasn't shrimpy by any means: his body was lean and tight, with contours of small muscle. Yet, he wasn't thick either; rather he had the body type of a swimmer or a runner. There wasn't an inch of body fat on him, just firm skin and muscle. For one relaxed moment, Naruto had a thought of overpowering his friend, dragging him to the ground and running his hands all over his shirtless body. Sasuke seemed to come to his senses when he noticed Naruto's cheeks redden slightly. Quickly, he pulled back on his shirt, his own cheeks starting to fluster.

The sight of Sasuke putting back on his clothes brought Naruto back to his senses.

"Hmpt," Naruto snorted, "Look pretty scrawny to me."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to snort, "Keep telling yourself that fatty." He added with a smirk.

"What? I am NOT fat!" Naruto said angrily, "Simply cause I actually eat doesn't make me fat, see!" And with that Naruto threw off his own shirt.

Sasuke didn't expect such a reaction from himself. The moment Naruto's shirt was off, Sasuke felt his disposition shift to that of a predator that had seen a rather delicious-looking prey. Naruto was facing him, his eyes shifting upward to meet Sasuke's. Without his normally bulky clothes Naruto looked boyish and vulnerable. Sasuke smirked. Naruto was anything but fat: he was both lean and thick at the same time. Some areas of his body were thicker than others where the weaker baby fat was being transformed into solid muscle. His arms, chest, and tummy were the most noticeable; given a few years and he'd be very shapely.

Sasuke took a step towards Naruto. Bringing up a hand, he pinched the skin on Naruto's hip, giving the love handle a squeeze, "Chubby," he said with a slight smile, not a smirk but an actual smile, however miniature it might be.

Naruto gulped. Sasuke was very close to him, grabbing the skin of his shirtless body. For a moment, Naruto felt uneasy, as if he didn't know what Sasuke planned to do next, but he didn't expect it to be good. Then, he became more aware of Sasuke's hand still holding his skin, and he blushed before he could stop himself. "Am not," he said, trying to make his voice come out as indignant, but instead it was more of a whisper. Naruto wanted to kick himself for sounding so weak, yet Sasuke's behavior was making him feel weird things inside, and he couldn't get his bearings.

Just then, BANG! The grandfather clock that stood in Sasuke's living room erupted, breaking the atmosphere with more of its chimes: BANG…BANG…BANG…It kept ringing, until seven full dongs were painfully rung out.

"Shit," Sasuke cursed, "It's seven o'clock and we're late."

"Fuck," Naruto responded, as if even in swearing he had to outdo Sasuke.

Sasuke quickly went to grab his school bag, Naruto throwing back on his shirt.

"Don't forget to take the movie you brought with you," Sasuke said, as he put on his shoes.

Naruto was a bit flustered. _Stupid clock_, he thought. Then his frustration turned into embarrassment: Sasuke had played with his baby fat. Again, Naruto's cheeks reddened. _I must have looked so stupid to him, standing there whispering like an idiot! _With that he yanked the remainder of his shirt down. Then he thought back to the look on Sasuke's face. _Stupid, gay, Sasuke-teme, he tricked me into taking off my shirt so he could get off by seeing me shirtless…_

"You coming or what?" Sasuke sounded more than annoyed. Naruto grumbled, then went over to the shoe rack and grabbed his tennis shoes. Sasuke was already waiting by the door when Naruto finally finished. Looking at the grandfather clock quickly before leaving, Naruto saw it was 7:05; then he ran out the door. Sasuke locked the door quickly, Naruto still moping at his side, before the two of them headed out for school.


	3. Fantasies, snoring, & fangirls

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto–obviously…

Warning: This story is rated **M** for the following: foul **language**,** shōnen-ai** (boy-love) and **yaoi** related themes, **sexual content** and** sexual molestation**. This may not be apparent within the first several chapters however later on expect to see explicit sexual content and other mature themes. Therefore, if any of this bothers you, please don't read—I promise I won't feel bad. Again, this story will contain **SLASH** among other mature themes, so you've been warned!

Pairing: SasuNaruSasu

Criticism: I take all criticisms (though, where and how I can improve are always more effective–obviously). However, anything goes; just tell me what you think!

A/N: This is an AU story where Naruto and Sasuke are regular guys that attend high school. Regular enough if you don't count the fact that Sasuke had a tragic past that involves his older brother and the fact that he now lives alone, and that Naruto never had a family and is hated by the town for reasons even he doesn't know.

Very BIG Thanks! to all of you guys who reviewed (yay!) and favorited (a very nice compliment, btw). And, as always, thanks to all readers for reading! Be sure to tell me what you think! I will reply to all reviews on this story!

Enjoy!

Synopsis: When your family is messed up, the fangirls give you a migraine, and your teacher ogles you in a way that makes your stomach heave…there's no way you can handle having sexual feelings for your best friend, especially when he's a guy! You certainly don't need your friend having crazy, sexual feelings of his own. Yup, Sasuke's life just got all the more complicated.

* * *

**Things Pile On**

**Chapter 3: Persistent fantasies, Loud snoring, and Very clingy fangirls.**

They were about halfway to school, when Naruto paused briefly in his steps before continuing onward.

"What is it?" Sasuke said, noticing his friend's momentarily halt.

"Aw, it's nothing, just forgot to take the movie with me." Naruto said, his hand going to scratch the back of his neck, "But I can just come back for it later."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded. Neither of them spoke after that.

Konoha City high school lingered up ahead.

The high school had been the first school built in the city of Konoha and its appearance reflected this fact. A large building built entirely of red bricks, it consisted of two stories, of which the second story had been originally used to house the high school while the first story contained classrooms for middle school aged students. Over the years, the campus had expanded and the original school building now was being used as an administration building, while the remainder of the school was made up of a collection of buildings that were built more recently. Not to mention, the middle school built down the street freed the school from acting as a joint building.

The sophomore wing of Konoha City high school contained halls that were built using solid wood flooring, this making footfalls echo uncomfortably. The fact that Naruto and Sasuke were late didn't help any; the sound of heels clanking against the floor as they ran was the only sound to be heard in the halls (other than the noises coming from behind the doors that they passed along the way). Every so often another set of footfalls would come up loudly behind them as the occasional student running late for class would pass them by.

Finally they neared the door of their first class, which they both shared.

This year Sasuke had thought he gotten a degree smarter when he suggested that he and Naruto pick the same classes. That way he wouldn't have to end up doing homework for classes he wasn't even registered for, since Naruto always asked him for help even if they weren't in the same class. Though when it took about an entire hour between choosing classes and then weeding out the ones not to take, Sasuke wasn't so sure it had been such a smart idea in the first place. This was especially driven home to him after he and Naruto almost started an all out fight in the middle of the library when Naruto declared that he was DEFINITELY taking First Aid. Sasuke had asked him what in God's name had made him choose _that_ of all classes. But, Naruto simply darted the question, with an "it could be fun." It wasn't until the first day of classes when Sasuke had seen Sakura enter the First Aid classroom a couple paces ahead of him and Naruto, that he started to get just what Naruto had meant by that remark.

Finally, Sasuke and Naruto reached their destination.

Sasuke reached the door first and opened it, ushering Naruto in ahead of him. Before entering, Sasuke glanced at his watch: "7:20" it read.

Despite the fact that First Aid class had come to Sasuke's thoughts, he and Naruto didn't have that class until third period, for now they had to worry about their first class of the day: Algebra II.

Neither had wanted to take a mathematics class first thing in the morning, yet it was the only Algebra II still available; the class required for all sophomores to take. They probably would have been able to take the class at a later period during the day if they hadn't procrastinated until the last possible moment to sign up for classes; of which Sasuke blamed Naruto for entirely. About a week before the summer vacations had ended, Naruto had noticed that two spots had opened up for Algebra II during seventh period, yet that would mean they would have to cross off Swimming from their current schedule. And that was something that Sasuke wouldn't do. So, cursing the gods, they both had kept Algebra II with Mizuki-sensei at seven o'clock in the morning.

Mizuki-sensei was a man in his late twenties who seemed to enjoy the sound of his voice. He also loved to make class time as "interactive" as possible which basically equated to getting as many people up in front of the class or sitting in the front row as possible.

As soon as Naruto entered the room, the class seemed to stop; Mizuki-sensei was in mid-speech before his attention was forced on to the two late comers. Stopping momentarily, the teacher continued his lecture from where he left off, a slightly annoyed look appearing on his face.

Naruto found a place in the back, placing his orange backpack onto the desk, before he slumped down into his seat. One moment later his head was down, using the backpack as a pillow.

Sasuke had followed Naruto to the back and took a seat next to him. However, no sooner had Sasuke sat down then a feminine voice whispered over to him from four rows up ahead.

"Sasuke-kun," whispered a girl with long, blonde hair, "Sasuke-kun, sit here." Ino smiled brightly at Sasuke, pointing to an empty seat behind hers.

"No way, Ino-pig!" Another voice piped in; although it was still whispering, this voice sounded a lot louder. "Sasuke-kun is NOT going to sit_ behind_ you, not when he can sit_ next to_ me." This voice came from Sakura, the pink-haired girl who sat on the other side of Ino.

"Or perhaps both of you girls can stop paying attention to where he sits and go back to listening to my lecture," Mizuki-sensei was standing in front of the two girls, his already whiny tone sounding even more put off. The rest of the class was staring at them, both girls blushed.

"Uzumaki!" Mizuki-sensei's voice suddenly snapped; both Sakura and Ino flinched. Naruto's head was still down on his desk. Sasuke nudged Naruto's shoulder. _He can't really be asleep already we just got here?_

Naruto sat up at Sasuke's touch. Looking over to his friend who inclined his head to where the professor stood.

"What is the point of even coming to my class when you insist on sleeping through it?" said Mizuki-sensei, his tone beyond irritated now.

Naruto didn't look at his teacher, just simply said, "Sorry, Mizuki-sensei." Though his tone didn't sound sorry at all. The teacher looked down at Naruto through his nose, his eyes narrowing in disgust.

"Sasuke-kun," Mizuki-sensei said then, his tone back to normal.

"Yes, Mizuki-sensei?" Sasuke answered, his voice emotionless.

"Since you actually pay attention in my class, I want you to sit up here please." Mizuki-sensei gestured to an empty desk in the front row, three seats up from where Ino was sitting. Ino seemed to go wild in her seat with glee, Sakura visibly scrawling. Naruto stared over at Sasuke who was looking at the teacher.

"I'm fine here, thanks." Sasuke said.

"This is not a request, Uchiha-kun." Mizuki-sensei said simply, "Besides we wouldn't want any of _Uzumaki_ here to rub off on you."

Sasuke glared at him, then grabbed his stuff and went where he was told. More and more Sasuke hated this teacher.

"And as for you, Uzumaki, next time you're late, don't even think about coming to my class." And with that Mizuki-sensei went back up to the front of the class to continue his lecture.

Naruto scowled; he hated Mizuki. He glanced at Sasuke's back, then put his head back down on his desk and rested his chin on his book bag.

And with that class continued on as normal. Mizuki-sensei was lecturing in front of the class, drawing the squiggly lines of mathematical symbols onto the board. Naruto's unfocused gaze however didn't even register the meaning. Perhaps, even if he had been paying attention, he probably wouldn't have got it; Algebra II was one of his worst subjects. Naruto probably wouldn't have gotten into the class at all if it hadn't been for Sasuke's help in Algebra I, which involved actual teaching but also included Sasuke just throwing his homework to Naruto when he got tired of repeating the same procedure for thirty minutes straight.

The teacher's voice was drowning out until it was only a low murmur in the background. Naruto's eyes roamed from the squiggle-infested board to the white spikes of Mizuki-sensei's hair before a particular picture grasp his attention. With his head still leaning against his book bag, Naruto studied the picture.

It contained a two story house with a long, asphalt driveway; five new cars, each a shinning new color, were parked in what looked like a multi-car garage. Several palm trees littered the yard, which lay only several meters away from a shimmering ocean…. In his mind Naruto imagined himself jumping into the ocean, swimming deep under the water until the ocean floor just barely brushed against his stomach. He felt so alive, so unlike the dulled boredom he always felt in a classroom: the sensation of being trapped, contained, and bored completely out of his mind. Suddenly he wasn't alone, Sasuke was swimming beside him. Turning to his friend he saw Sasuke's dark hair fanning out against the current, seeming to frame his face like a strange dark halo. Naruto ran his hand through Sasuke's hair; the water pushed the strains freely through his fingers. Sasuke was smiling, tiny air bubbles forming under his nose and on the corners of his mouth. Naruto moved closer to his friend, his hand going to rest on Sasuke's bare, toned chest. The skin felt smooth, yet firm, just as Naruto had imagined the developed body of his friend might feel like earlier that morning when his friend had thrown his shirt off in front of him.

"Sakura, first problem please."

Naruto snapped his head up from the desk.

Somewhere between the shimmering ocean and the five car garage, Naruto must have dozed off.

_And what the hell was I dreaming about?_ _Groping Sasuke of all things! Dammit, what the hell is a matter with me? I'm not gay! I like Sakura-chan._

Naruto quickly focused his eyes on Sakura as she walked up to the whiteboard, her long, pink hair swaying against her back as she walked. Naruto noted the way her hips seemed to meet the sway of her hair with an equally lovely motion. As usual, Mizuki-sensei was taking volunteers to come up to the front and write their answers to yesterday's homework on the whiteboard.

After searching until she found the purple marker (since no pink one was available), Sakura wrote a number one in giant, girlish handwriting on to the board. Then, holding a sheet of paper out in front of her, which Naruto guessed was her completed homework, Sakura began to write the answer to problem one on to the board. Again, Naruto focused on the slimness of her waist that rounded into a nice set of hips. From behind her right arm still writing on the board, he could see the curve of her small breast. Already he could feel himself getting slightly hard._ See, I knew I liked Sakura-chan. So why in hell do I keep thinking about Sasuke like that?_

No sooner had he mentioned that name then he heard Mizuki's voice call out: "Sasuke, number two please."

Sasuke never volunteered; Mizuki-sensei normally just chose him to present his answers anyway. Naruto's gaze followed Sasuke as he made his way up to the whiteboard. He couldn't help but notice the nice arch Sasuke's shoulder's made with his back as he grabbed the closest marker to him. Popping off the lid of the marker, Sasuke began to write on the board, leaving a trail of small, neat green symbols.

If Naruto was not so busy watching the way Sasuke tilted his neck slightly to the side when he wrote, which revealed the pale skin of his neck, then he might have noticed that Sasuke was writing the solution to a logarithmic equation. However, if he had been paying attention Naruto might have actually mistaken it for ancient Greek for as much as he knew about logarithms.

Though he didn't pay much attention to what his friend was writing Naruto still found himself to be slightly amazed at the neatness of Sasuke's handwriting given the fact that he was writing on a whiteboard.

Suddenly, Mizuki-sensei's voice again served as an interruption to Naruto's thoughts.

"Ten Ten," The teacher had directed his voice to a brown-haired girl with her hand raised, "The answer to number three, if you please."

Ten Ten smirked slightly as she stood up and went to the board, going to the far end of the whiteboard from where Naruto was sitting. Apparently, Sakura's large handwriting had taken up too much of the center whiteboard for Ten Ten's taste, and she thought she would occupy the last empty board. Ten Ten selected the blue marker that was resting on the overhang beneath the whiteboard before she wrote a medium-sized number three on the board and started writing her problem.

Sakura was still standing by her work, her eyes (of course) staring in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke, who had just finished his problem, placed the marker down and waited impassively by his work, leaning ever so slightly on the wall next to the whiteboard.

The way in which Sasuke leaned against the wall irked Naruto. Perhaps it was the way in which he carried himself that seemed to quietly hint his superiority over everyone else in the room. Or maybe it was his arrogant smirk, which seemed directed straight at Naruto but ether way, it pissed Naruto off.

While he was still thinking about how much of a bastard Sasuke was, Naruto felt his eyes begin to move down Sasuke's navy shirt, and noticed the slight raising and falling of his friend's chest. Naruto couldn't help but imagine how Sasuke's skin might feel underneath: hard and yet at the same time smooth beneath his eager fingertips.

Turning away quickly, Naruto grimaced and fidgeted in his chair. When had his thoughts turned from cursing Sasuke to wanting to grope him again? This time when Naruto looked back up at the board he tried to focus on Sakura instead. Sakura had brushed a hand through her long hair, her skinny fingers letting the pink strains weave through them as if they were a delicate brush. Naruto noticed that Sakura kept smiling slightly, as if to herself. It was then that Naruto noticed that Sakura kept nonchalantly moving closer towards Sasuke. Naruto eyes automatically began to follow Sakura's tiny movements in Sasuke's direction, slowly his gaze moved from Sakura until once again Naruto found himself staring directly at Sasuke. _Dammit! What the hell!_

Sasuke shifted in his stance, crossing one foot lazily over the other. Naruto's eyes followed the movement of Sasuke's leg, unconsciously moving upward until they came to rest in the crease of Sasuke's shorts. He felt his face reddened. Sasuke's zipper was a half a centimeter lower than it should be; perhaps Sasuke had been in a hurry getting dressed this morning. Naruto wanted to fix it for him, yet in his mind he saw his hand dragging the zipper a bit lower instead.

Naruto blanched, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. Again he looked over to Sakura. Her hand had come up to rest below her chin. Naruto noted her pink, manicured fingers and wanted to examine the flowery design on her nails a bit longer, when suddenly the flicker of her eyes in Sasuke's direction brought his attention back again to Sasuke._ Fucking bastard!_ Naruto inwardly cursed. _Why do I want to look at Sasuke of all people, why can't I stay looking at Sakura-chan!_

Before he could stop himself, Naruto's eyes took in Sasuke's hair, and the way the dark charcoal color made Sasuke's facial features stand out. Noting how he could draw a perfect line from Sasuke's smooth forehead down his even and proportionate nose and over the perfect curve of Sasuke's mouth; Naruto smiled in spite of himself. Yet, inside he was fuming. _Fucking, stop staring at stupid Sasuke-teme!_ Yet, his eyes seemed to be beyond his control, Naruto found them racing from Sasuke's face down his neck line, hurriedly down his navy shirt, until Naruto once again found himself staring at the thickness in the crease of Sasuke's pants.

Suddenly memories from the previous night sprung into his mental view: he saw Sasuke pinned beneath him against the carpeted floor of Sasuke's living room; his muscle memory seemed to make him almost feel the thickness beneath Sasuke's shorts as he had pressed harder into his friend to hold him still. Naruto desperately tried to bring his mind back to Sakura, yet it was too late, if he was semi-hard from when he had checked-out Sakura before, he felt solid now.

_Dammit, what the hell does Sasuke think he's doing looking so fucking smug?_ It was as if somehow Sasuke could look inside Naruto's mind and was finding pleasure in the fact that Naruto despite his best intentions, despite even trying to distract himself with Sakura, couldn't stop thinking about how good Sasuke looked. Perhaps he should just go back to sleep, then he wouldn't be held responsible for these trespassing thoughts of his.

"Sakura, let's see what you have done here." This time Mizuki-sensei's whiny voice seemed to be more of a balm than anything else to Naruto's ears.

Mizuki-sensei went over to Sakura's writing on the whiteboard, his red marker in his hands (no doubt itching to cross through several lines that he deemed unworthy), then he began going over her solution. Naruto looked over to Sakura. He expected to find himself having to block out any intruding thoughts that beckoned him to look over at Sasuke, yet this time, his mind seemed to be content. _Finally! About fucking time!_

Naruto kept looking at Sakura. To him, she seemed nothing short of perfect. She normally did excellent on homework problems, hence her volunteering to go up to the board._ She just has to be sweet and nurturing; just look at the way she's smiling_, Naruto thought as he studied her. He loved the way she smiled, the way her green eyes seemed to brighten; yet it was when she was victorious at something that Sakura's smile seemed to really light up. Naruto wished he could go up there and take Sasuke's place, and have Sakura smile at him like that.

Suddenly, he heard a curse coming from several rows ahead, low enough to avoid Mizuki's attention, yet still loud enough for him to have heard. Ino had a scowl marring her would be pretty face. Naruto knew that sure enough Ino would be the next one raising her hand to answer on the board, if for nothing else because Sakura had done so. What he didn't know was that it was Sakura's close proximity to Sasuke that had provoked such a curse from Ino, though Ino would also be volunteering to go up to the board if for nothing else then to try to go head to head with Sakura on every level, academics included.

By the time Naruto had looked up to the front of the classroom again, Mizuki-sensei had already made his way over to Sasuke's problem. Sasuke just stood where he was, leaning against the wall, his face indifferent; the smirk that Naruto had seen earlier gone. So unlike Sakura's lively one. _Just what is it that is so great about Sasuke, anyways? Who the hell could like that boring, moping, arrogant bastard?_

Naruto paused in his thoughts, thinking that that last comment might have gone a bit too far; Sasuke was his friend after all. Then an idea hit him and he smiled like an idiot: _See I can't like Sasuke like that if I just thought __**that**__ about him!_

As the teacher looked over the terse solution written in tiny, neat green handwriting, Mizuki-sensei's red marker tapped against his side in anticipation, again. However just like with Sakura's homework, Sasuke's answers were always correct. However, unlike Sakura's, Sasuke's solutions were always efficient and contained no unnecessary steps. So to Naruto it always looked like Mizuki-sensei spent more time going over Sakura's answers then Sasuke's.

Despite the fact that both Sasuke and Sakura were called to the whiteboard for almost every set of homework problems the class was asked to do, Naruto had never once been called up to the board. Most of the time, Mizuki-sensei ignored the fact that he was even in the room, with the exception of whenever the situation arose where he could yell at Naruto. Naruto however was very thankful he was never asked to participate. Today it was especially a good thing that he wasn't called to answer any problems since Naruto hadn't even bothered to do the homework last night. He had found it far too confusing, and had decided to skip that section and head over to Sasuke's house instead, thinking _when will I ever really use logarithms anyways!_

Still bored, the anger from before long gone, Naruto decided to rest his head against his book bag again. The polyester beneath him felt so soft and his eyelids were getting a bit heavy. Perhaps he should just give his eyes a little rest? There was nothing happening on the board anyways. Sakura had already been sent back to her seat, now only Sasuke was up in front (well Ten Ten was up there too, but Naruto hadn't paid the brunette much attention).

Naruto let his eyes close. Now he would have to go through the hassle of opening them again if he wanted to see Sasuke. And Sasuke wasn't worth all of that trouble. Besides, it wasn't as if Naruto actually _wanted_ to look at Sasuke anyways. _I like Sakura-chan, I like Sakura-chan, I like Sakura-chan_…. Naruto kept repeating the phrase like a mantra until he gave in to a beckoning sleep.

* * *

Sasuke went back to his seat. Thankfully he had been given a homework problem that hadn't required a very long answer, Mizuki-sensei tended already to draw things out. Sasuke had just sat down when he heard the teacher call on another student to go up and write his answer to homework problem number four on the board.

Rock Lee stood up, his homework sheet trembling slightly in the air while his hand holding it bustled with excitement. Sasuke always found Rock Lee to be quite comical to look at with his thick eyebrows, which looked like twin sheets of electric tape slapped above each bulgy eye, and his haircut, which looked as if he put his cereal bowl on top of his head and snipped around the edges. Not to mention, Lee seemed to possess an unnatural amount of energy and tended to make a show out of even the smallest of tasks. Then again, after being around Naruto as much as he was, Sasuke was surprised that he wasn't used to energetic people by now. Speaking of Naruto, Sasuke wondered if he was asleep by now. Probably, seeing as he had fallen asleep within moments of walking through the door.

Sasuke turned his head to glance at Naruto; as expected Naruto had his head down on his backpack, his spiky blond hair sprawled all over the worn-out orange material. Sasuke imagined that the polyester would make an awfully comfortable pillow though; no wonder Naruto could fall asleep so quickly.

"Ino, you're next." Mizuki-sensei said, his voice catching Sasuke's attention. Sasuke was always surprised that Ino even volunteered to go up to the board given the fact that her answers were seldom correct. However when he saw her throw an angry glance at Sakura, he could only assume it was part of the stupid rivalry that existed between the two girls. Though it wasn't a very thought-out move as far as he was concerned, clearly sitting quiet in your desk beat making a mockery out of yourself in front of the entire class any day, but then again he never did pretend to understand women at all.

_This class is so fucking boring_,Sasuke thought miserably, his eyes going back to watching Naruto sleep. Perhaps he ought to trying sleeping in class? Anything would be better than this.

"Well at least I'm not as stupid as _Naruto_ over there." Sasuke head snapped over in the direction of the comment. Ino was standing at the front of the class; her sorry attempt of last night's homework apparently had been worse then normal if she had started to defend herself in this manner.

"He wouldn't even know where to begin a problem like this," Ino continued, "I mean, one time I found him complaining about how you, Mizuki-sensei, were such a _moron_ given that you wanted everyone to solve problems that contain _letters_ in them instead of _numbers_." Ino laughed, "He actually didn't know that _x_ was just a variable."

Sasuke stared at her dumbfounded. Just what was she playing at? Why was she describing Naruto's insults about Mizuki-sensei directly to the teacher's face? Did she want Naruto to get in trouble? It wasn't as if Mizuki-sensei actually was that nice to Naruto to begin with, saying stuff like this was only going to fuel the teacher's already sour behavior towards his friend.

Mizuki-sensei smirked. "Well no one expects anything from _him_ anyways; you, Yamanaka-kun, however are another story—"

"I know Mizuki-sensei," Ino brushed the teacher's comment off, "But I swear at least I'm not THAT stupid, I mean he stood there arguing—calling you all sorts of names, by the way—for about an hour at least, all about how 'how was he suppose to know what _x_ was anyways,' and how you're such an _idiot_ to expect anyone to be able to solve such problems."

Sasuke clutched the edge of the desk, his knuckles beginning to turn a shade whiter. _Why does that bitch keep repeating those things in front of the entire class?_ Sasuke quickly glanced over to Naruto. Thankfully he was still asleep.

Mizuki-sensei was making a very ugly face. Yet, Ino just kept on talking. _Shut up, bitch_. Sasuke kept thinking. He wanted to say something, but what could he say? Everyone would just ask why he cared so much anyways.

Sasuke sighed inwardly in frustration, just why did he care? Naruto certainly didn't, seeing as how he was fast asleep. And it wasn't like Ino was doing anything that harmful anyways, just running her big mouth. Not to mention, Mizuki-sensei already hated Naruto as it is; could it really make their situation any worse?

Mizuki-sensei only smirked, and then his gaze rested on Naruto, who still sleep on.

"Of course, when all he ever does is sleep in my class," Here he raised his voice, as if directing it to Naruto, "Is it any wonder why he continues to be such a little moron."

Sasuke stared up at Mizuki-sensei in disbelieve. Sure, the teacher always ratted on Naruto, yet he never called him direct insults. That was uncalled for. But, what could Sasuke say? It wasn't as if they were physically harming his friend, these were only words after all, and wouldn't it look odd if he jumped up all angry? Perhaps people would start to wonder if there really was anything between him and Naruto.

Sasuke stopped dead in his thoughts._ There isn't anything like that between me and Naruto! Why the hell am I even worrying about people thinking something like that anyways? It was just a stupid dream! It doesn't mean I actually feel that way. I can't control when I have nightmares so why should I be angry at myself over this?_

"Then again, even if he did try to pay attention, do you really expect _Naruto_ to be able to understand?" Mizuki-sensei's said, his voice overpowering Sasuke's thoughts. Sasuke looked up at him coolly, hoping that his outward appearance would mask all signs of any inward conflict. "You students will eventually learn that there are some things that are simply above the reach of certain _kinds_ of people, and mathematics is just one of those topics out of the grasp of _his kind_."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Mizuki-sensei._ Just shut up already_. Again he looked over to Naruto. _Wake up dammit!_

Just then the worst happened: Naruto let out a somewhat loud snore. (Well, perhaps it wasn't exactly the worst thing that could have happened, but it produced the same effect none the less).

Sasuke cringed. The class burst out laughing. Ino was not even pretending to hide her mirth; she threw her head back laughing, and every so often she kept slapping her thighs in a way that looked as if she was starting to have trouble breathing. Sakura was laughing too, yet every so often she would bring a hand up to cover her mouth, as if to tell herself that she really should not be engaging in this kind of behavior.

"And there you have it," Mizuki-sensei said with a smile, "Future _genius_ that one; he's sure to find the next cure for cancer." Mizuki-sensei laughed at his own joke as if it was by his humor alone that had caused the entire class to start laughing.

Sasuke inwardly growled, his eyes throwing daggers at Mizuki-sensei. So much for his impassive face. Sasuke grumbled inwardly. _He's such a jackass, and his joke wasn't even funny, it was lame._

The rest of the class went on like that; everyone telling jokes about how pathetic Naruto was. _So much for the remainder of the Algebra II class_. Though, Sasuke didn't really know why he was surprised at all by this behavior, Mizuki-sensei sometimes had a way of letting the class get off tangent, especially when he could take this time to praise himself in some way. And telling comical stories about Naruto making an idiot of himself seemed like a good a way for him to do just that.

Sasuke just stared at the wall blankly, trying to clam himself down enough so he could put his impassive mask back on. _Why am I feeling embarrassed, I'm not Naruto?_

_Damn that moron_, Sasuke cursed inwardly, _Why the fuck does he sleep in this class? So he can do something stupid like snore and make an idiot out of himself in front of everyone; isn't he tried of being a joke as it is?_

Sasuke growled again; at this point he was surprised nobody heard him. He knew he had to be scowling, but no one paid any attention. Everyone just kept on talking, with new people piping in every now and then, each trying to recall their own funny take on Naruto's stupidity.

_Why the fuck do I care what other people think about Naruto? Hell, I don't give a shit what they think about me? Why does it fucking matter if no one likes Naruto?_

_What the hell is it to me anyway?_

* * *

Naruto awoke to the sound of book bags rustling and notebooks being put away. Finally, class was over. He was grinning like an idiot. _I did it! I finally replaced Sasuke with Sakura!_ Despite the fact that he had had no control over this last dream as well as the one he had had before about Sasuke, Naruto still looked at the dream as a personal achievement; he was already hated enough by his classmates, it would be next to torture for him if were to turn gay._ Yup, I knew I was a fucking fag_. The last bits of his dream playing out in his mind, most of which had been filled with luscious curves, and long flowing, pink hair.

Ahead of him Sasuke was putting away his notebook. Naruto's mind seemed to forget all about the embarrassing thoughts he had had earlier about his friend, his brain had already stayed on that particular thought process for far too long. _Hum, maybe I'll ask to borrow his notes later._ Naruto quickly dismissed the thought; he'd never read them anyways. He then grabbed his backpack off of his desk, and headed over to wait for Sasuke.

Ino and Sakura had already beaten him over.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino said grabbing hold of Sasuke's arm. Sasuke arched an eyebrow at her in annoyance. Ino must have been oblivious to this gesture, since she continued talking anyway. "Will you walk me to class?"

"What?" Sakura practically screamed, throwing Ino off of Sasuke. "There is no way he is walking with you to class, you're not even in his next class; I am!" Shoving her way in front of Ino, Sakura brushed up against Sasuke's chest.

"So, um, Sasuke-kun," She blushed, "Wanna' go to class together?"

"You are so lame, forehead girl," Ino said, shoving Sakura out of the way, "You just copied the same thing I said!"

Sasuke stared at the two girls blankly, before his face scrunched up slightly in disgust and he took a step backward, only to step on Naruto's foot.

"Ow, watch it Sasuke-teme!" Naruto hissed. Bad idea; both girls turned on him fuming.

"How dare you address Sasuke-kun with such disrespect, _Naruto_?" Ino spat out his name as if she was saying a curse.

"Yeah, Naruto, show some respect." Sakura piped in. Though she spoke his name normally, and not as if it was an insult.

"What, for this teme?" Naruto said with a laugh; then his eyes registered a very angry Sakura standing in front of him, fuming.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, giving her his most innocent smile, and bowing an apology in spite of himself.

"Ewww," Sakura squealed, "Don't ever call me that, you annoying little worm!"

"Hey, um, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, as if she hadn't said anything at all, but was just smiling back at him. He looked away, blushing slightly, "Um, I'll walk to class with you, since we're in the same class and all."

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Ino though used Naruto's distraction to her advantage. "Sasuke-kun," she said, throwing her arms around him, "Let's not waste time with these losers." Her voice tried to be as seductive as possible. Sasuke just cringed and went to shake her off; he had had enough of these girls just clinging to him. Since when did he look like a person who allowed this kind of affection? Yet, despite his frustration, he didn't end up shaking her off at all, either his attempt had been poor or else she had been too stubborn to let go.

Sakura shoved Naruto aside, "Out of my way, creep," then she charged at Ino. "Get off MY Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!"

Naruto had fallen into the desk in front of him from Sakura's push and was now pulling himself up, staring back at her with large, hurt, puppy-dog eyes, "Sakura-chan?"

Sasuke had had enough, he wasn't about to be late for another class simply because these losers were holding him up. "Come on," he said to Naruto and headed for the door.

Sakura and Ino were shoving into each other roughly, yelling insult upon insult. Naruto followed Sasuke to the door, with one last look back at Sakura. This had been a mistake, because it had gotten her attention, which in turn alerted her to the fact that her idol was leaving out the door.

"Sasuke-kun!" she screamed, shoving Ino off and racing after him, "Wait up!"

"Oh no you don't forehead, he's mine!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. If only they had been guys, then he could kick their asses. But alas, he was stuck putting up with them.

"Hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out happily, as both girls filed into place at Sasuke's other side; somehow Sakura had beaten Ino to a place directly at Sasuke's side. Naruto looked over Sasuke to address Sakura.

"Stop. talking. to. me. Naruto." Sakura said, her voice drawing out each syllable in annoyance, before turning back to Sasuke. She kept tying to have a conversation with Sasuke, yet Ino kept cutting her off and trying to having a completely different one. Annoyed as all hell, Sasuke stopped; all of his passengers stopping a second later once they realized he was no longer there. Some people behind them voiced their annoyances before veering around the small, halted group and continuing down the hall.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun," Ino said, "Is anything the matter?"

"Shut up, Ino-pig," Sakura cut in, "Sasuke-kun, is anything bothering you, can I help?"

Naruto rolled his eyes_. "Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun," _He mimicked. Both Ino and Sakura didn't seem to hear him, and if they did they ignored him.

"I'm fine," Sasuke said curtly; then he grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and hauled him away, shoving him into the boy's bathroom.

"Ok, we'll just wait for you here, Sasuke-kun." Whether it was Ino or Sakura or both that said that, Sasuke didn't know, nor did he care. The bathroom he shoved Naruto into wasn't empty. Two other guys were there, one about to leave and the other looking like he had just arrived. The guy on his way out threw a rather ugly look in Naruto's direction before he left.

"Annoying bitches," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"Who Sakura-chan?" Naruto said, "Hey, don't call her a bitch, bastard!"

"Don't start, Naruto," Sasuke said. He leaned against the bathroom hall, and closed his eyes, trying to stop the migraine that was about to set in. "If you want her so much, be my guest and go out there with her." He looked down at his watch, so much for not being late. They only had thirty seconds until class started.

"Fuck this," Sasuke said and left the bathroom, Naruto following his lead.

"I really don't know why you even complain," Naruto said, trying to keep up with Sasuke who was rushing to class at an astounding rate. Both Ino and Sakura, despite saying otherwise, were gone.

"I mean," Naruto continued, "If I had Sakura after my ass, you wouldn't see me complaining."

"Yeah, cause she's so wildly attractive acting like a banshee in heat."

"And even Ino is pretty hot, if you don't hear her speak that is," Naruto continued as if Sasuke hadn't spoke.

"Naruto, grow up," Sasuke said. Just then, they reached the door of their next class. The bell rung as soon as Sasuke opened it. Naruto entered the classroom behind him just as the bell ended. No sooner had Sasuke entered the classroom then the pungent smell of formaldehyde invaded his nostrils, ushering in the reality that he was standing in his worst class of the day: Biology.

* * *

A/N: My apologies for being so late :( Hopefully, the chapter was long enough to make up for that.

It's been very busy over here, what with family (can't really avoid them during the holidays, hehe) and work (I seem to be writing the documentation that never ends, I really wanna get back to programming already, it's driving me crazy!). Oh, and I guess I should mention that I mixed certain aspects of high school and college together...kind of saw that happening when I was having a difficult time remembering how high school worked as opposed to college, hehe.

But enough on that, Happy New Years people!


	4. Outbursts, snakes, & reflections

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto–obviously…

Warning: This story is rated **M** for the following: foul **language**,** shōnen-ai** (boy-love) and **yaoi** related themes, **sexual content **and** sexual molestation**. This may not be apparent within the first several chapters however later on expect to see explicit sexual content and other mature themes. Therefore, if any of this bothers you, please don't read—I promise I won't feel bad. Again, this story will contain **SLASH** among other mature themes, so you've been warned!

Pairing: SasuNaruSasu

Criticism: I take all criticisms! Feel free to tell me what you honestly think!

Very BIG Thanks! to all of you guys who reviewed (yay!) and favorited (a very nice compliment, btw). You guys are great! It really motivates me to keep writing :)

Synopsis: When your family is messed up, the fangirls give you a migraine, and your teacher ogles you in a way that makes your stomach heave…there's no way you can handle having sexual feelings for your best friend, especially when he's a guy! You certainly don't need your friend having crazy, sexual feelings of his own. Yup, Sasuke's life just got all the more complicated.

* * *

**Things Pile On**

**Chapter 4: Embarrassing Outbursts, Obtrusive Snakes and Reflections about Us.**

Sasuke stepped through the door and at once his senses were overwhelmed by the tangy smell of formaldehyde. He would have scrunched his nose in disgust if he hadn't been used to the smell by now; after all they were midway through the semester.

The classroom they entered had an oppressive feeling to it. No sooner had Naruto let the door slam behind them, Sasuke felt his instincts telling him to get out of the room fast. Yet, Sasuke quelled it; it was a necessary evil after all.

Perhaps a reason for the overwhelming feeling was the busyness of the room. Every wall was lined with large bookshelves, which were cluttered with various bottles, boxes and of course books. Sasuke had once been curious about the different odds and ends on the shelves, but now he was long bored, having to see them everyday for about eight weeks now. Still, they had once been intriguing. Glancing at the shelf nearest to him, Sasuke saw the toe of a pig, a dead baby snake, the heart of a dog, and what could have been the equivalent of a human hand, though the teacher had told them it was really a monkey's hand, all floating in proportionate jars filled with liquid. It seemed like this teacher had a fascination with the parts and insides of once living things.

Sasuke's eyes had left the bookshelves and turned to look for an empty table: the room was made up of long, black tables connected at the ends to form rows of four tables each. The rows of tables extended all the way back until several feet away from the door at the back of the classroom, the one that led to the teacher's office. Of course, Sasuke wasn't about to sit there. His Biology teacher had a way of appearing behind his shoulder whenever Sasuke was not looking; it was extremely annoying, not to mention disturbing on levels that Sasuke's didn't even want to think about. So the last couple of rows were off limits in Sasuke's book. Sasuke also didn't fancy sitting close to the front. Though this teacher rarely lectured up in front of the class, Sasuke felt a bit exposed sitting in the front row with no other tables to act as a shield. He much more preferred to sit in the middle of the classroom, so after finding two empty chairs in a table six rows back, Sasuke went to take his seat. He could hear Naruto behind him.

Sasuke was going passed the front row of tables when he heard a very familiar, very annoying voice call to him.

"Sasuke-kun, sit here!" Sakura waved her hand enthusiastically from the end seat on the table in the front row. She had saved a chair next to her for him; though Sasuke wouldn't sit there even if she paid him. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke ignored her.

Sasuke felt more than saw Naruto slow in his steps as his friend had looked over in Sakura's direction when he heard her voice. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Sakura's bright smile drop from her face, her green eyes darken, and her cheeks tinge pink in what he could assume was embarrassment. Yet, he ignored it.

"I'll sit next to you, Sakura-chan!" Sasuke heard Naruto's voice say.

"The HELL you will," Sakura erupted, "I'd rather sit next to a rabid dog!" Some people in her row snickered. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke watched as Sakura stuck up her nose at Naruto and turned her back to him.

Again Sasuke rolled his eyes. _What the hell does that dobe see in her anyways?_ This question was on his mind more and more. Sasuke had made his way to his seat and was taking off his backpack when he saw that Naruto was still standing by Sakura's side.

"You can go now," Sakura said, her back still to Naruto.

Sakura had opened her pink and white book bag. The quilted bag was only about the size of her forearm and Sasuke had to ponder how she fit anything in it at all. Not surprising she pulled out a pink spiral notebook and began to flip through pages covered with lines of large, curvy handwriting. The way Naruto was watching her seemed to make him look more like a sad, little puppy looking longingly up at its owner eating a juicy piece of stake and desperately wanting a piece.

Again, Sasuke didn't get it. _Just what is so great about Sakura?_

Sure, she was petite and had a head of long, flowing pink hair, but that was where her qualities ended. Her face was okay but nothing worth jumping hoops over. Though, she did have vibrant, jade-colored eyes, which were sort of interesting. But still, she wasn't very gifted as far as the thickness of her chest was concerned. Then again, her breasts _did_ have a nice perky shape to them which seemed to more than make up for her lack in size.

Okay, maybe he could _almost_ see what Naruto saw in her, but that in no way made up for just how annoying she became once she opened that mouth of hers. It seemed to Sasuke that whenever Sakura talked she just sounded so immature, and dare he say _pathetic _fawning over him the way she did. Not to mention, whenever Naruto was around she treated him like he was a germ.

Not that Sasuke was very thrilled about the way Sakura treated him—what did she even know about him anyways for all of her worship? It angered him; he kept seeing images of his mother wooing around what she thought was the strongest and the wealthiest. Sasuke wasn't under any pretense about Sakura's affections, he knew that if his family didn't have money, or if his face wasn't so "pretty," Sakura would be on to the next guy in no time.

"As in leave!" Sakura snapped; her voice bringing Sasuke's attention back on her and Naruto.

Naruto's face fell at this and he slowly made his way over to where Sasuke was sitting.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. _Moron_, he thought. Again that same question filled his mind and made him frown slightly: _Just what is so great about Sakura?_

Sasuke watched as Naruto made his way over to where he was sitting; Naruto's eyes were slightly downcast. Suddenly, he felt a slight twinge of emotion in his gut. At first he couldn't place the emotion?

Perhaps it was jealousy he was feeling? But jealousy over what? Sakura? No, he already had Sakura's affections and it was a bit sickening. Then what? Envy? Envious of Sakura stealing so much of Naruto's attention? Sasuke inwardly snorted, like he really wanted anyone's attention that much.

Then what was it? Perhaps he was jealous of Naruto, as if he didn't want Sakura steeling away what was his. Sasuke raised an elegant brow at this. Jealous of Naruto? Ridiculous. Naruto was his friend not some possession to want to keep all to himself. Jeez, these emotions really were silly, Sasuke was glad he didn't place much value on emotions such as these. He was also glad he didn't wear these silly feelings on his face where everyone could see them._  
_

Sasuke went to take his own notebook out of his backpack. Opening to yesterday's notes, his eyes swept over the page. So they were starting a new lesson today: they were going to study the nervous system. Yesterday they had finished the last section on the digestive system and to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject they were asked to dissect the lower abdomen of a fetal pig. Sasuke didn't really mind dissections other than the annoying smell of the formaldehyde which seemed to reek tenfold in the classroom during those days.

Just then the sound of a scuffle brought Sasuke's head out of his notebook. Naruto was on the ground, having caught himself with his hands before his face could smack the shoe-stained floor.

Sasuke suppressed a groan. Why the hell had he expected today to be any different? Every morning the teacher stayed in his office a good ten minutes before coming to _teach_ the class and it seemed to Kabuto and his friends that that was the prime time to bother Naruto.

Naruto came up from the ground, angry as hell: "Okay who the fuck tripped me?!"

Snickering could be heard all around the room, but particularly from a group sitting at the end tables of the two rows closest to Naruto. This group was made up of Kabuto and four of his friends. _No surprise there_, Sasuke thought.

"Next time, try looking where you're going, _Naruto._" Kabuto said in an arrogant sounding voice, talking down to Naruto as if he held the intelligence of a child.

"It was you, wasn't Kabuto?" Naruto growled at the older-looking boy with grayish-brown hair tied back into a pony tail and thick bangs that hung heavily over his dark eyes, encircled by round glasses.

Kabuto was sort of the unofficial leader of this group, or _gang_ as they called themselves, called Snake. Currently he was sitting with the members of Snake that were in Biology: this totaled to be three guys and a girl. Next to Kabuto, who sat on the end seat of the table, sat a girl with pointy, horn-rimmed glasses and strange red hair, which she wore short and messy on one side of her head while on the other side she had it combed and long. Sasuke knew her name; Karin was one of his many (and in his mind very annoying) fangirls.

On her other side sat Suigetsu; his hair was so blond it almost looked white. He wore an ugly smirk on his face which revealed his jagged and uneven teeth, which he probably had his parents (or lack of parents) to thank for not getting him braces. He was looking at Naruto with disgust in his icy, green eyes.

Finally there were two boys sitting behind the rest: Jirobo and Kimimaro. Jirobo was sitting on the seat second from the end of the table behind Kabuto's. Kimimaro sat on his other side. Kimimaro just sat staring straight ahead, his green eyes focusing on nothing in particular, his face impassive despite the fact that the rest of the group was laughing. Jirobo, on the other hand, was smirking over at Naruto. He was a large boy with a thick face, tiny yellow eyes and an orange Mohawk; he looked just as old as Kabuto. Sasuke could see his fat poking out of his shirt and juggling up and down as he laughed.

When Kabuto stood up in reply to Naruto's threat, Suigetsu was the first of the four to follow his lead, Karin and Jirobo rising as well. Kimimaro still remained in his seat.

Sasuke noticed that Kabuto seemed a hell of a lot taller when compared to Naruto—Naruto coming up to Kabuto's chest in fact—still Naruto snarled up at him as if they were eye to eye. Karin just smirked down at Naruto (she was about an inch or two taller), before she turned to look over her shoulder and flashed Sasuke a sexy smile, the light reflected momentarily off of her lenses and revealed her rose colored eyes. It was an odd eye color for someone to have, yet Sasuke didn't care much to give her more than a second's worth of his thoughts.

"Now it's my fault if you can't walk over your own two feet, is it?" Kabuto said, his three friends laughing as if he had just told the world's funniest joke. Again, Kimimaro was the only one not laughing as if he was off in his own little world.

"Why don't you learn how to walk, _Naruto_," Suigetsu said, he had come up behind Naruto and pushed him forward roughly. Naruto, loosing his balance, tripped and fell into the table behind Jirobo's, the one where Sasuke was sitting.

Naruto fell against the end of the table where two other students were sitting. Sasuke thought he heard them murmur something either about how funny Naruto looked or perhaps how wimpy he was, but Sasuke wasn't really paying attention; his thoughts were on Naruto.

Sasuke was watching Naruto from his seat a couple of chairs away. Not surprisingly, Naruto didn't look over at Sasuke, nor did he look up at all.

Sasuke growled inside. Already he could feel his frustration rising to a dangerous level. He had thought he was annoyed when Naruto was talking to Sakura. However that frustration seemed like minor irritation to what he was feeling now. _What the fuck does Kabuto and these jackasses think they're doing anyway?_ It had always puzzled Sasuke why they could look so smug as they bullied Naruto. It wasn't like Kabuto or any of the others ever chose a time to fight Naruto when they were by themselves; even Suigetsu, who of the group seemed to hate Naruto the most, always waited until he was with another member of Snake before he started anything physical. Of the three Sasuke especially hated Kabuto, and right now he wanted to tear that stupid smirk right off of his face.

He was beginning to feel more annoyed, if possible: why the hell did he even have to put up with this? He didn't feel like having a fight first thing in the morning; he was barely awake. Suddenly his annoyance turned towards Naruto.

_When did it become my responsibility anyway? It's not like Naruto can't fend for himself_. Then again it was three against one. Despite the fact that Karin was a girl, other than her ridiculous obsession with him, she acted like the rest of the boys in Snake when it came to fist fighting.

Suddenly, Kabuto appeared behind Naruto. He was grinning and interchanged a smirk with Suigetsu. Yet, Sasuke was through putting up with them; they had had their fun. He heard his own chair scrape the floor as he rose from his seat.

* * *

"Having trouble even standing are you?" Naruto heard Kabuto say from behind his ear. Somewhere he thought he could hear a chair scrapping against the floor, as if someone else had stood up. Sasuke, maybe? Naruto still didn't want to look up in case his eyes happened to meet his friend's. Perhaps it wasn't Sasuke? Given all of the noise that prevented him from hearing clearly, the sound could have easily have came from the direction where the last one of Kabuto's friends was still sitting in his chair: perhaps Kimimaro too had come to gang in. It was so unfair, three again one was bad enough, now it would be four against one. Sakura was in here and now she was going to see him get his ass kicked. And if it couldn't get any worse, one of the people about to kick his ass was a girl! Yet, despite the fact that he should be more afraid of Sakura seeing all of this than Sasuke, why did he feel far more terrified of meeting his friend_'_s gaze?

Suddenly, Naruto felt Kabuto's shoe shove against his ankle. _Oh shit,_ Naruto thought as he realized what Kabuto was trying to do a moment too late. He felt the pressure, and was a bit surprised that he hadn't gone sputtering, face-first against the desk and on to the floor when suddenly a voice spoke up from somewhere behind him to the right of his periphery.

"Well, aren't you tough, Kabuto?" Naruto heard Sasuke's voice say, "Three against one, those are odds to be bragging about." He felt the pressure of Kabuto's foot let up. Then Kabuto was no longer behind him.

Pushing himself up off of the desk, Naruto spun around to face Sasuke. Kabuto had already done so, along with his three friends. The fourth one, Kimimaro, was still planted in his chair and wasn't even looking in their direction.

"It's interesting that you only come around with your _little_ buddies," Sasuke continued as if he was having a delightful conversation with a friend, though his eyes were shooting daggers at Kabuto, "Yet failing as many times as you have, you'd think you're old enough to handle a fourteen-year-old by yourself."

"So why can't you ever fight Naruto alone?" Sasuke smirked, "Because you're a coward, and a stupid one at that. Just how old are you,_ seventeen_ and still taking a sophomore class?"

Naruto could feel the entire class watching them.

He saw some kids smirking at Kabuto; several started laughing. It was well acknowledged, though rarely spoken to his face, that Kabuto wasn't too bright, given that he took lower level classes than his current grade. Not to mention, it seemed to Naruto that whenever Sasuke talked most of the class paid attention. And whenever he said anything that even resembled a joke most people laughed.

"Yeah, you tell him, Sasuke-kun," Naruto heard Sakura say as she cheered from her seat.

Naruto felt all the more furious. He saw Kabuto facing Sasuke, Kabuto's friends all looking over at Sasuke, some angry (Jirobo) some amused (Suigetsu) and some fangirling (Karin). He saw Sakura also staring over at Sasuke with a dreamy look on her face which practically screamed_ 'he's so cool and brave!_' It seemed like everyone in class was staring at, or nodding his or her approval to, again Sasuke. _Why does everyone love Sasuke-teme?_

"Why do you always stick up for this loser, Sasuke-kun?" Suigetsu said. Perhaps Naruto was mistaking it, but his voice seemed to contain a tone of comradeship.

Naruto hated this more than when they were just picking on him, at least then he had had Kabuto's and his group's attention; now those assholes were talking about him as if he wasn't even there.

"That's right," Kabuto cut in, "Given _your_ reputation, Sasuke-kun, I would think that you'd stay as far away from _trash_"—here his head pointed over to Naruto—"as you possibly could."

This seemed to be a point for Kabuto. Perhaps most of the class thought as much for many threw disgusted looks over at Naruto.

Naruto saw Sasuke's dark eyes narrow dangerously at Kabuto.

"It would be a pity for someone like you to loose all of that simply because you picked the wrong friends." Kabuto continued. He was smiling now, a sneer-like smile. But it seemed like his talk had worked, for Naruto noticed several boys in the class were now throwing disapproving looks not only in his direction but in Sasuke's as well.

Sasuke gave a sarcastic snort, "Cause I'm really gonna go to such an obvious failure for advice about my reputation, right?"

This seemed to get the crowd back to supporting Sasuke again; Naruto noticed that the exact same guys who had just thrown looks of disapproval at Sasuke were now smirking at Kabuto instead.

"Yeah, Kabuto, as if you're one to talk," Sakura's voice piped in, several other girls nodding at her words. "Yeah," said another girl, "It's not like Sasuke could ever loose his reputation, he's way too cool for that, you on the other hand-" Naruto saw more girls sneering in Kabuto's direction. He couldn't help wishing he had an army of fangirls to support his every whim. _Sasuke doesn't realize how good he has it._

It was then that he realized that he was just standing there while Sasuke was fighting_ his _fight. Not to mention who the hell was Kabuto to call him_ trash_ anyway? He had just opened his mouth about to say_ something _(he wasn't really sure what) when suddenly a loud slamming noise brought his (and everyone else's) attention to the back of the room.

Orochimaru stood in front of his closed office door, a thin grin appearing on his narrow face as he stared at his students.

"My, my," he tisked in a voice soft and Naruto thought perhaps this would be how a snake would sound if it could talk. "Fighting so early in the morning, and in my classroom of all places."

Kabuto looked over to Orochimaru and it looked like he gave him a small smile, but then he bowed his head and said, "Sorry Orochimaru-sensei." His three friends following his lead. Then Kabuto continued, raising his head as if speaking to an equal, "However, if you're looking for the cause of this little skirmish, that would be _Naruto_ over there, blaming us for the fact that he can't walk straight." Kabuto's three friends had looked up as well and were now smirking at Naruto.

Naruto growled, "I can too walk straight, that asshole tripped me!" He said pointing an accusing finger at Kabuto. Given his outburst, the entire class was looking at him. However, they just glared at him as if he were a rather disgusting looking cockroach; so very different to the looks they had given Sasuke earlier, even their disapproving ones looked nothing compared to this.

* * *

Sasuke meanwhile, though his face looked impassive, inwardly was fuming. The pressure inside his body had lessened somewhat since he had let out some of his anger at Kabuto and his groupies.

It was then that he noticed the reaction of his classmates towards Naruto's comment. Again, they seemed to look at Naruto with malice in their eyes, as if he had done something personally against them. Sasuke was extremely sick of all of this nonsense. Nobody ever told him what Naruto had done wrong, yet this hatred seemed to follow Naruto where ever he went. Sasuke didn't understand it; Naruto wasn't that bad. In fact, he was the only person Sasuke hung around and that was saying a lot. It was then that Sasuke felt the urge to step protectively in front of his friend, when Orochimaru's wispy voice coming right next to his ear startled him back to reality. He hadn't realized the teacher had come over to him. Though he was a bit shocked, Sasuke masked it as best he could._ Dammit, why the fuck does he keep doing that?_

The corner of Orochimaru's lips curved into a smile as he watched Sasuke. "And just how did Sasuke-kun come in to such a fight?" He asked both looking at Sasuke and talking as if he wasn't there; absently he brushed a finger across Sasuke's cheek. Uncontrollably Sasuke flinched. _What the hell is this guy doing?_

Sasuke heard a low growl and thought it was him at first, until he looked over and saw Naruto staring directly at Orochimaru. It was then that he noticed that Kimimaro had finally stood up and like Naruto he was glaring over at them; however his anger seemed to be directed at Sasuke instead of Orochimaru. _What the hell is his problem?_

Orochimaru just chucked softly. "Boys will be boys, I suppose." He said simply still staring at Sasuke. The class had gone silent, everyone looking over to Orochimaru and Sasuke.

"However," Some people in the class flinching at his words. "How dare you do such things in my classroom." Even though Orochimaru never yelled there was something far more sinister about his soft tone that provoked an even worst reaction from the class then if he simply raised his voice.

"Detention." he hissed, slapping his hand against Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke glared; his eyes meeting Orochimaru's without flinching. Orochimaru seemed to smile at this.

"Hey," Naruto cried out, making everyone again look over at him, "Why are you giving Sasuke detention! Kabuto's the one who started it. He's the one who pushed me, not Sasuke!"

"Open your mouth in my class again, little _runt, _and I promise to tear the tongue out from your throat," Orochimaru said, turning his eyes to glare at Naruto. Involuntarily, Naruto took a step back.

"Don't ever talk like that to him." Sasuke's said in a low voice.

For a moment even he was surprised he had said anything. At first, Sasuke had thought he only said this in his mind. Inwardly, he rolled his eyes. He had been able to contain himself in Algebra, why had he opened his mouth now? He felt like he had crossed some sort of invisible line. Sure, guys could stick up for each other in a fight, but just for name calling? Weren't they only supposed to do that for girls or lovers? What if people suspected that he and Naruto were lovers? _But we are NOT lovers, so why do I even give a damn if people think that or not?_ Still, so many people were mean to Naruto that if Sasuke were to intervene during every name calling session, he'd probably be fighting the entire school.

Yet, there was something in the way that Orochimaru had said those words to Naruto that caused Sasuke's control to snap. There was no way in hell he was going to allow anyone to talk like that to Naruto, teacher or otherwise.

Orochimaru spun around to face Sasuke again. Some people looked shocked, Naruto included.

Suddenly laughter erupted from on the other side of Orochimaru.

"I suppose _now_ we know why you're always sticking up for _Naruto_," Kabuto said, a smile plastered on his face. "You're gay for the little _runt_."

Sasuke inwardly flinched.

Kabuto said he was _gay_ for Naruto? _Shit_. Despite his fears, Sasuke seriously had not expected this. Suddenly, he was scared. Was his outburst that bad? Had his feelings really been that obvious?

_What? I don't have those kinds of feelings, dammit!_ Yet, all the while he felt guilty, even shameful. He had had that dream of Naruto. What if he really was gay?

Jirobo was laughing, so was Karin. Then she must have realized what Kabuto had actually said for she stopped abruptly, her cold eyes shooting red daggers at Kabuto. Suigetsu just had a look on his face that was somewhere between a smirk and disgust.

"So you don't want us to hurt your little_ boyfriend_ do you?" Kabuto said holding his thumb up(1) and shaking it in mockery, a taunting smile on his face.

Naruto was beat red at this.

"Shut the fuck up Kabuto," Sasuke lashed out, "Unless you want me to knock that dumbass grin off your face."

Sasuke was starting to see red. How dare this jackass taunt him in this manner? Saying he was embarrassed was an understatement, he was mortified.

Shoving his way past Orochimaru, Sasuke grabbed Kabuto by the scruff of his collar and shoved the taller boy into the table behind him. For all of his talk, Kabuto just stood there, either he really couldn't do much or he was just shocked that Sasuke had actually grabbed him.

It was then that Sasuke heard soft laughter behind him.

Orochimaru was standing at his shoulder. "Touchy, touchy, aren't we?" His long fingers brushed over Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke shoved his hand off; fuming, he spun around to face him. The class was watching from the edge of their seats, some even standing up (Kimimaro growling at Sasuke dangerously); all were wondering what Sasuke would do, and to a teacher no less.

* * *

Sakura watched as Orochimaru stepped closer to Sasuke, looking down at him. Sasuke met the teacher's eyes, his own dark onyx orbs looked livid.

"Careful, boy." Orochimaru's voice sounded soft, but deadly. "You've already got one detention with me; I don't think that even you could withstand another one."

Sasuke just glared at him as if to say '_try me'_.

"Take your seats." Orochimaru said to the class suddenly, his voice dark.

Sakura looked around at the class. Most people seemed a bit hesitant, still sending glances over at Sasuke.

Orochimaru had turned his back to Sasuke and had walked up to the front of the classroom.

"That includes you, Sasuke-kun." He added still not looking at Sasuke, or even the class for that matter. Though Sakura, who had a seat in the front at the far end of the classroom closest to the door, thought she could make out a weird expression on the face of her teacher: Orochimaru-sensei seemed to have a look of upmost yearning on his would be handsome face if a sneer had not been permanently edged into it.

_'No,'_ thought Sakura, _'Not yearning, more like greed-ridden.'_

Sakura's first thought was of some enthusiastic child Charles Mansion would have had, who just received a set of tweezers for Christmas and now couldn't wait to try them out on the cat's whiskers.

It was times like this that Sakura understood why Biology was her least favorite subject in school. It wasn't as if she did poorly in the subject; Sakura was always near the top of the class whenever she was graded. And even the subject matter was fairly easy enough for her to understand. However, the teacher made the class to be almost fearful.

Everyone heard of Orochimaru-sensei's detentions: given the choice between sitting in a room full of blood-sucking benchuca and sitting through a half-hour with Orochimaru, the former would be quickly chosen. Sakura didn't know what it was about that teacher, perhaps his wicked smile which almost seemed to feed off of the pain of his students, or maybe it was those eyes, which seemed so narrow and slit-like that perhaps he was really the host of some overgrown snake. Either way, Sakura hated this class, and from the moment she entered it until the last second until it ended Sakura counted down the minutes until it was over.

She didn't even feel comfortable flirting with Sasuke-kun in this kind of environment. It felt so oppressive, as if at any moment now Orochimaru-sensei was going to throw a padlock over the door and gas the students from within. Why he was ever allowed to become a teacher in Konoha City high school was something even Sakura with all of her smarts could never understand.

Suddenly the dreaded voice of her teacher spoke, bringing Sakura back into the reality of the classroom.

"Two hours, detention." Orochimaru-sensei had spun around to face Sasuke-kun again; those greedy eyes widening slightly, his face however still looked passive only containing a sneer.

_Sasuke-kun._ Sakura thought as she looked over to Sasuke with large, worried green eyes._ Please, stop, I don't even want to think of you spending thirty minutes with Orochimaru-sensei much less two whole hours!_

Sasuke snorted, a sneer of his own marring his beautiful features. "Looking forward to it." And with that he took his seat.

* * *

Naruto watched as Sasuke sat down. He hadn't had time to go and sit by Sasuke. Orochimaru's command had made him take the first available seat which just happened to be the open seat at the end of Jirobo's table.

_'This is all your fault,' _a little voice whispered in the back of his mind. Naruto felt a slight pang of guilt ring in his gut.

_'Sasuke got involved to help you.' _Normally, Naruto was able to stuff this voice deep down whenever it tried to show its ugly head; now however for some reason he couldn't seem to stuff that voice anywhere, instead it just kept on talking. _'More importantly,' _the voice continued,_ 'Sasuke's reputation is at stake because of you.'_

From the table up ahead, Naruto saw Kabuto smirking. Naruto growled, baring his teeth slightly.

_Damn, Kabuto, he's the one that started it, not Sasuke! _Naruto threw open his Biology book_. And he doesn't get so much as a slap on the fucking wrist!_

He side-glanced to where Sasuke was sitting, having to turn around slightly so he could see him since Sasuke sat a row and several chairs behind him. Sasuke had opened his book as well, and was staring over at Orochimaru with a bored look on his face. Naruto turned to look at the front of the class. Orochimaru was performing his short introduction of the upcoming chapter; his soft voice somehow managing to fill the entire room. It wouldn't be long before he just assigned some in-class reading and returned to his office; he rarely ever lectured. Naruto had to wonder what he did all day in his office. And as far as his _lectures_ went, Naruto never really paid attention, however short they were. Orochimaru, to tell the truth, was a very strange teacher; everything he said either confused the hell out of Naruto or made him feel uneasy. Naruto was very thankful they weren't asked to dissect anything today; Orochimaru seemed to get all the weirder when he was talking over the inners of some dead and gutted open creature.

Naruto's thoughts went back to Sasuke.

Sasuke had never received a detention before. Despite his cool attitude which the school seemed to worship, Sasuke was relatively quite and for the most part showed respect for the teachers. Naruto wondered if this was the beginning of the end for Sasuke's reputation: would Sasuke start getting treated badly simply because he was his friend? For all the times he hated the fact that the whole school seemed to love Sasuke, he would feel terrible if all of that stopped—and all because of him.

Suddenly, Naruto felt angry. _Like Sasuke needs all of that attention anyway!_ He began flipping through the book with enough force to tear the pages, surprisingly nothing ripped. _Like having to spend the afternoon in detention is so horrible—I mean I spend lots of afternoons there!_ (Though he had had detention numerous times it had never been with Orochimaru-sensei).

He wasn't really looking at the book as he flipped through it. _Why is it so horrible for Sasuke to go there, yet acceptable for me to? Who the hell is Sasuke anyway?!_

It was that thought that made him stop flipping the pages with a pang of guilt.

_Sasuke was the first person ever to be sort of nice to me, the only person my age that is._ Naruto's eyes seemed to focus inwardly; blankly he stared down at his book. The text seemed to blur together as his eyes unfocused, he didn't even realize that he was almost at the last chapter of the book (six chapters ahead of where the class was currently).

_All the other people always looked at me like I was some sort of curse, like my very existence sickened them. And I never even knew what I did to make them hate me like that. I still don't…_

Naruto's mind seemed to wander; a particular memory began to play in his thoughts. He found himself in a very different looking classroom than Orochimaru's Biology class. The desks and chairs seemed a lot closer to the ground and were much more colorful. It was his fifth grade classroom. Naruto was sitting in an empty row, three rows back from the front of the class. All of the other students had either sat in the row ahead or behind his; none wanting to sit anywhere near him. Thinking back Naruto thought it was a bit odd that the teacher hadn't just made the kids sit there, they were after all wasting an entire row of desks.

Suddenly the door had opened, and in walked Sasuke. Now Naruto remembered: the class was just coming back from Physical Education. That day, at the end of PE the class had lined up so the students could be individually measured against one of the gym walls; Naruto assumed this was some sort of health-related thing. The kids that were first in line got to leave early, no wonder why they did not want to choose seats by him, only the unlucky people last in line would have the displeasure of sitting next to the class _freak_. Naruto remembered that Sasuke, even though he was towards the front of the line, had chosen a desk in Naruto's row, only two seats away from him. He remembered staring over at Sasuke, blinking.

"Sasuke-kun," a boy's voice from the row behind had said then, "Don't sit there, _he's_ there."

Sasuke just arched an elegant-looking eyebrow at the boy, but said nothing.

Sometime after, Sasuke had actually talked to him. Naruto still to this day wondered why he did.

"Naruto," Naruto had been shocked to hear Sasuke actually call him by his name, and it wasn't spoken like a curse word either. Naruto had looked over hesitantly to the dark haired boy.

"What's wrong with you, why does everyone hate you?"

"I don't know." Naruto shrugged.

"Hn," was Sasuke's only response; he was silent after that. Though, Naruto remembered that Sasuke had sat there the entire class.

Then, Naruto's mind roamed to later that day at recess. He was at the playground outside of his primary school. Most kids were either climbing on the wooden jungle gym or playing soccer in the field out back. Naruto however was just sitting by himself. He had slowly wandered over to one of the swing sets on the far side of the playground. There was one other boy swinging on the leftmost swing. For a moment, Naruto thought he would try and make a friend, but no sooner had Naruto sat down on the neighboring swing, then the kid hastily got off his swing and left, almost as if he was afraid of Naruto.

Ten-year-old Naruto had sat on the swing, angrily kicking dirt as he rocked back and forth. It was then that he had heard someone approaching. He had looked up and found that it was none other than Sasuke walking around idly, his eyes were lost in the distant horizon; he didn't even seem to notice Naruto.

For one moment, Naruto wanted to talk to him. He seldom saw Sasuke with anyone. In a weird way it was like they were the same: always alone. When Sasuke was walking right past him, Naruto had opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He was about to try again when he was interrupted.

"Sasuke-kun!" A pretty, little pink-haired girl said; she had run up to Sasuke with a blonde, slightly taller girl at her side, "We were wondering if you could answer this question for us?"

"What is it?" Sasuke said absently. His face looked bored and his voice sounded so cocky that Naruto remembered growling at his retreating back._ Sasuke, that bastard!_ He had thought then. It seemed like all Sasuke had to do was simply be present and people wanted to talk to him. _And he doesn't even want their attention! _Naruto remembered thinking. In that sense, Sasuke was the polar opposite of Naruto, who was hated simply _for_ being present.

_So I made him my rival. _Naruto's thoughts voiced over his memory._ I picked fights with him, with more word fights then fistfights, though we've had our fair share of those_—at this Naruto smirked fondly._ And Sasuke could be such a bastard with his superior looks or his taunts about how I always messed up in class; how I was last place._

Naruto's face scrunched up in remembered frustration, but then he seemed to relax a bit.

_But even when he acted like an arrogant bastard, he never looked at me like I didn't deserve to live like all the others did._

Then, Naruto's mind jumped to the end of his fifth grade year. This time it was early morning. Naruto was normally one of the first kids to arrive at his primary school given that he lived close enough to walk. He had entered the cafeteria. Most of the lights were turned off except for a set of lights over at the far end. Someone else was here.

There, sitting at a table near the stage, was Sasuke. Naruto found himself grinning; Sasuke also was early since he too walked to school. For some reason, even though all they did was fight, Naruto looked forward to their time together before everyone else arrived.

"What are you doing, teme, reading some lame book?" Naruto called out to the dark haired boy, who had his face buried in a thick and old looking book.

"Dobe," Sasuke said, though he didn't look up from his page.

"Stop calling me that!"

"Why, that's what you are?"

"Oh yeah Sasuke-teme, you know what you are?"

"Not a dobe that's for sure."

"No, but you're still a bastard!"

Suddenly a small group of kids had come in from the side double doors. Apparently their bus had arrived early. The group of kids divided at the door, with three girls (who looked like they were third graders) going to sit at the far end of the cafeteria leaving behind a group of boys, most of which were in Naruto's class. Naruto had remembered feeling a bit letdown, thinking that they would come over to sit by Sasuke and then he would have to leave.

"Hey look who it is, it's that freak." Said one of the boys, as he flipped on the master light switch that turned on all of the lights in the cafeteria. Naruto had felt strangely relieved that the boys hadn't mentioned Sasuke yet. Perhaps it was because Sasuke sat with his back to them and had his head almost buried in that monstrosity of a book of his. Naruto had watched the group of boys as they had taken their seats in a table several tables away towards the middle of the room.

"Yeah, my dad said he should be castrated." Said another boy as he swung his leg over the red, stool-like seat of the table where the group had decided to sit.

"What's that?" said another boy in the group. Naruto too couldn't help wondering what that was.

"Sasuke-teme, what does _castrated_ mean?"

Sasuke smirked. "It means they cut off your—" here his eyes glanced briefly down at his shorts.

"Your leg?" Naruto asked in confusion.

"You really are a dobe," Sasuke said, "In between your legs, moron."

Naruto had gone quiet trying to imagine how he could even live without a penis, when he noticed Sasuke rolling his eyes.

"They cut off your balls, dobe."

Naruto was about to sigh in relief until he realized what Sasuke had told him; it didn't sound any more comforting.

"What the hell did I do to that kid's dad?"

Sasuke smirked again; though he still kept reading that book. Naruto growled at the book that was stealing so much of Sasuke's attention. Coming over to him, Naruto shoved his face in between Sasuke and the page he was reading, "Whatcha reading?" Naruto was about to make out a phrase when Sasuke shoved his face away.

"Would you leave me alone, loser," Sasuke said, "You wouldn't be able to understand it anyway."

"Let me see," and with that Naruto yanked the book away from Sasuke. Closing the book, Naruto nearly choked, the book didn't even contain a cover! Flipping through the pages, he saw that it didn't have any pictures in it either. Suddenly, the book slipped out of his hand and dropped to the ground; the surface had been surprisingly slippery, not to mention the book was a bit heavy and thick for his ten year old hands to grasp a good hold of. The book landed with a heavy clunk against the cafeteria floor.

"Damn, Sasuke-teme why are you reading such a boring, rock of a—" but when he looked over at Sasuke, he looked livid.

"I said leave me the fuck alone!" Sasuke bent down, grabbed the book and almost reverently put it back on the cafeteria table where he had it before. Sasuke's loud tone caused several heads from the other table to turn.

"Is that Sasuke-kun?" Naruto had heard a one of the boy's say; he saw several more boys' heads begin to turn towards them.

"Jeez, Sasuke-teme what crawled up your ass and died?" Naruto said angrily, still a bit surprised that Sasuke had gotten that upset.

"Just go away."

"Why so you can read some stupid book, you nerd?"

Sasuke stared at him and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, that's definitely Sasuke-kun," another boy's voice spoke up, "What's he doing with that freak?"

Naruto remembered looking away from them and focusing on Sasuke, as if by those gestures alone he could make the boys disappear. Sasuke had sat back down and, after brushing off the first page that stood for the cover, opened the book to where he had left off and had continued to read as if no Naruto had dropped it on the floor.

Still wanting to get Sasuke's attention, Naruto was about to yell at him again, when suddenly a devious little thought had come over him. Smilingly mischievously, Naruto went over to Sasuke and pushed the end of the thick book upwards so that it closed on Sasuke's face as his nose was leaning over the other page. Needless to say that worked, Naruto had Sasuke's full attention now.

"Alright loser, I tell you to leave and you just can't take the hint," Sasuke's voice was beyond loud now, without more warning he punched Naruto square on the face, his fist bruising Naruto's cheek.

"Damn you teme!" Naruto yelled back and he punched Sasuke in the stomach. This started a competition for the title of 'who could punch the other the hardest.'

"Cool Sasuke-kun's gonna kick that freak's ass." Naruto had heard one of the boy's say.

At that moment, he and Sasuke had paused from their punches and had entered into a rather intense staring contest. It was then that Naruto noticed the crowd that had come over behind Sasuke; he had developed a little fear of crowds for obvious reasons.

"Dammit, dobe, go and fucking bother someone else!" Sasuke said, he was facing the opposite direction. It didn't seem like he had noticed the crowd yet.

"Why? Who else reads a thick book that can be closed so easily on their face like that?" Naruto said. He couldn't help but smile, despite the growing nervousness in his gut.

"Hey Sasuke-kun?" called one of the boys. Sasuke spun around to face him. "Having a_ Naruto_ problem?" He spoke Naruto's name as if he were some sort of vermin.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto, and then shrugged. "What do you guys want?" he asked.

"Well, we also have a_ Naruto_ problem," said the boy, dropping his book bag onto the floor. Some others in his group following his lead.

_Shit, now they're all gonna cream me… _Naruto couldn't help thinking.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. "I can fight my own fights," was all he said, before he walked off.

The kid who had spoke to Sasuke looked a bit embarrassed. Two other boys in the group side-glanced each other, their faces looking a bit confused. Sasuke had grabbed his thick book and headed for a quieter part of the cafeteria.

_I suppose with them he probably could have grinded me into the dirt. _Naruto thought, as his childhood continued to flicker through his mind.

_Now that I think about it, he never even laughed when other people made jokes about me. Just like when people would try to get in our fights, he would just leave. It was weird then, but I felt sort of grateful: it was like even in our fights he somewhat respected me, like they were just our fights—and they weren't fights that happened because of something that I never did._

Naruto wondered how he and Sasuke had become such good friends, given their fighting and the fact that he had always found it kind of fun to tease Sasuke. Naruto folded his arms over his still open Biology book and laid his head down upon them. His eyes still unfocused; a small smile finding its way to his lips. Perhaps it just sort of happened. They never officially announced it. One day they just decided to walk home together, then they were sitting together at lunch, and the next thing Naruto knew he was going over to Sasuke's house. All the while Sasuke seemed indifferent to their friendship. But his indifference only made it more possible for Naruto to continue to talk to him, for Naruto didn't know if Sasuke wanted him there or not, and unlike the other classmates whose hatred was plainly written on their faces, Naruto had an equal amount of evidence on either side. So, he ended up just hanging around Sasuke all the time. Surprisingly, Naruto rarely thought about how close he and Sasuke seemed to have gotten.

Suddenly a large fist slammed down against his desk and made his book rumble against the surface. Naruto jerked his head up. His eyes focused on the large fist before they darted up to look at face behind it. Sure enough, it was the friend of Kabuto who Naruto had been forced to sit by, Jirobo.

"Daydreaming of your_ boyfriend_, little worm?" Jirobo's deep voice mocked, "Just hoping someone like him would notice a worthless, little worm like you, are yah?" With this he leaned closer to Naruto and smirked, "Just because he tolerates you, doesn't mean he actually cares about you."

"Oh go screw Kabuto, Jirobo." Naruto muttered to the older boy, before turning towards the front of the classroom. On the whiteboard, Naruto saw slanted writing which read '_Chapter 6_'. Naruto noticed that Orochimaru had slipped into his office again. He assumed that the teacher had instructed the class to read over that chapter he scribbled on the board before he had left. Naruto also noticed that Kabuto and his three friends sitting at the table in front of them were too busy talking quietly amongst themselves to pay much attention to him and Jirobo.

Jirobo gave a chuckle at Naruto's comment before returning to him. "You know,_ runt_, the only reason Sasuke-kun got in any trouble at all was because of you." Naruto just looked down at his Biology book and pretended to ignore him.

"Orochimaru-sensei didn't even so much as look in our direction." Jirobo continued. Naruto started to make a low growl. His mind danced with thoughts of sending his fist flying into the fat kid's thick face. Yet, suddenly that stupid inner voice spoke up and seemed to gang up against him. '_The only reason Sasuke is in trouble** is** because of you.'_

Naruto growled all the more. He didn't need this: assaults from both the outside_ and_ the inside. Naruto laid his head down on the desk and forcefully shut his eyes.

* * *

Sasuke was watching the fat boy talking to, or rather bothering, Naruto. Every so often he would hear what they were saying. "Oh go and screw Kabuto," He heard Naruto say; Sasuke smirked. Though now that Naruto mentioned it, Jirobo and some of the senior year Snake members were awfully chummy with Kabuto. _And he has the nerve to call me gay?_ Sasuke thought, his mind still ringing with Kabuto's insult.

Then Sasuke found his thoughts dwelling on the comment Jirobo had made before Naruto retorted._ "Just because he tolerates you, doesn't mean he actually cares about you."_

Sasuke inwardly snorted:_ Of all the people he's the only one that I actually do care about.'_ That last thought caused Sasuke's mind to pause mid-thought. _'I actually care about someone?_

For a long time Sasuke was quiet, even in his mind.

Then he smirked; it actually made its way to his lips. The whole thing seemed laughable._ Since when do I care about anyone?_ It was then that Naruto's face entered his mind. Naruto's clear, blue eyes; Naruto's smile. Of all the people Sasuke could not have asked for a better friend. Despite Naruto's rather annoying flaws, he was loyal and dependable. These last thoughts stopped him even more abruptly in his tracks. Suddenly anger flowed through his veins. _'A better friend?'_ That was the last kind of person Sasuke needed in his life. The problem with friends was that they took too much of his energy and time, what was more was they demanded things from him like trust and concern. And those were things that Sasuke Uchiha didn't feel like parting with; not like he had much left to give away anyways. He was certain of one thing though: having a friend meant having a sure way that someone could hurt you. Friends, to put it simply, were _liabilities_.

_Dammit, Naruto being my friend was far enough—hell even having a friend was more than I wanted._ Now, it seemed that Naruto wanted to make his way even deeper into Sasuke's heart. Sasuke growled again._ No way in hell!_ The more feelings Sasuke extended towards Naruto the greater chance Naruto had to hurt him. And Sasuke was done crying, he was through being in pain. Physical pain he could handle. In fact, he welcomed it; it dulled his mind to anything else but its numbing sensation. It was that other kind of pain that Sasuke knew he just couldn't take, as cowardly as that sounded.

_Dammit Naruto_, Sasuke thought angrily. _When did I start to care so much for that loser anyways?_

Perhaps it really was his fucking hormones to blame? Yes, it was their fault; that was why Sasuke was beginning to invest too much. Perhaps he really just needed to jerk off and be done with it. But then again, he had already done that. Sasuke's cheeks reddened when he thought of his dream.

Perhaps, then what he really needed to do was to just get laid. Maybe he should stop pushing his fangirls away. It was easier to not care for them given the way they acted. In fact, he was almost glad they were there; they made him even more firm in his resolution to never let anyone in. Besides, he didn't need to have any feelings for them to fuck them. He was a guy after all.

But every time he got close enough to hear them they sickened him. They were so fucking annoying; he couldn't imagine being able to get hard, let alone be hard enough for sex. Not to mention, with the way his stupid feelings were acting, his luck he'd start falling for one of the bimbos after they had had sex. And there was no way in hell he was going to end up like his father.

If there was one person he truly hated it was his father, and then his mother, and even more then the both of them, it was him; his older brother. Mentioning his family always sent waves of anger through his veins. He didn't think it was even possible to hate them the way he did. However all he needed to do was see or talk to his parents on the phone or think about his brother and his heartbeat started rising, and it wasn't in the good way like it did when Naruto was around.

The mention of Naruto's name brought Sasuke away from thinking about his family. But not far enough that they didn't influence his decision: and that decision was to continue to isolate himself. Somehow, Naruto had managed to get in through all of the barriers that Sasuke had set and it frustrated him. No, he wasn't worried about his stupid reputation being on the rocks as that jackass Jirobo had told Naruto. But all the same he did hate Naruto. And the fact that made him hate his friend all the more was that inside, deep inside, he didn't hate Naruto, not in any sense of the word.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes at the sound of the bell. Slowly he lifted his head off of the desk. All around him people were packing their book bags and heading towards the door.

Getting up he stretched, then he turned to look for Sasuke. Yet when he looked over to where Sasuke was sitting, he found that his friend was no longer there. It was then he caught sight of Sasuke's retreating back in the doorway a second before he disappeared into the hall. Why hadn't Sasuke waited for him? Naruto felt his stomach clench. For some reason, his body felt sluggish as he grabbed his book bag and headed for the door.

* * *

(1): Holding the thumb upward, like a typical thumb's up gesture, is a hand sign used to mean 'boyfriend' in Japanese culture.

A/N: Sorry, sorry for the delay...I know I said I would post earlier but it's been hectic at work lately. That being said, given the length these chapters are getting I'm starting to think that I need a proofreader; too bad I can't drag my hubby into it, but he's always so busy that I wouldn't feel right pulling the wife card on him and making him do it anyways, (though it is a bit tempting, hehe).

Besides that, I can't really say I like this chapter much—though this could be cause I've been proofreading it for a week straight! Still, I'm more curious to hear what you guys think. Don't be afraid to tell me where I need to improve, I'd really love the feedback. Not to mention, then I'll be able to make future chapters better :)

Thanks again for reading :)


	5. Girl talk, worries & self inflicted pain

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto–obviously…

Warning: This story is rated **M** for the following: foul **language**,** shōnen-ai** (boy-love) and **yaoi** related themes, **sexual content **and** sexual molestation**. This may not be apparent within the first several chapters however later on expect to see explicit sexual content and other mature themes. Therefore, if any of this bothers you, please don't read—I promise I won't feel bad. Again, this story will contain **SLASH** among other mature themes, so you've been warned!

Pairing: SasuNaruSasu

A/N: Yay! My highest chapter yet for a story on FF! I'm so proud of myself. Plus, my hubby and I are moving in less than a week, so I'm glad I got to post this one before then. I suppose I do have a laptop so it's not such a big deal, but then there is always unpacking and decorating and I'm getting excited just thinking about it! I really can't wait. About time! is all I'm saying, I swear our current place is starting to resemble Joe's Apartment, damn roaches, I swear it's like they were outsmarting the traps... Anyways,

Thanks again for all you reviewed! That always makes my day :) You guys are great! I don't know if I've ever said this but reviews get me motivated to write more of this story…and since life in general is stressful, I really can use all of the encouragement I can get! Secondly, thanks to those who favorited! A nice compliment, btw. And as always, thanks to everyone for coming back!

Criticism: I take all criticisms. Really, don't be afraid to tell me where I need to improve at!

Synopsis: When your family is messed up, the fangirls give you a migraine, and your teacher ogles you in a way that makes your stomach heave…there's no way you can handle having sexual feelings for your best friend, especially when he's a guy! You certainly don't need your friend having crazy, sexual feelings of his own. Yup, Sasuke's life just got all the more complicated.

* * *

**Things Pile On**

**Chapter 5: Girl Talk, Silent Worries and Self-Inflicted Pain.**

Sakura entered her third class of the day: First Aid. She was extremely early, having a full five minutes before class started. Only a few other students were in class; neither Sasuke nor Naruto had entered yet. Sakura absently dropped her book bag next to Ino's black leather Gucci bag already on the table.

Sakura exhaled a breath. As always she was anticipating the moment her crush walked in. However this time she felt a tinge of fear in her gut. In some ways she was really dreading when Sasuke finally came through the door, as if she feared seeing him again. Normally, she felt so giddy it was like she was a small child again eagerly waiting Christmas morning before she finally saw his handsome face enter the door. Never once had she failed to greet him, flamboyantly jumping up and down in her seat trying to get his attention. But this time, she felt different. A melancholy, almost depressing feeling hung over her.

Suddenly a light punch to her shoulder brought Sakura back to the present. Ino was staring at her intently.

"Earth to forehead-girl?!" Ino said. Her sky blue eyes flickering with annoyance as her lips drew into a tight-lined frown, "I've only been calling you for like ten times already."

"Sorry, Ino-chan." Sakura said; her chin still resting on the knee she had drawn up in her chair.

Ino looked at her quizzically before she replied, "What, no comeback?"

"Fine, you look very pig-like today, Ino." Sakura said with a sigh, her depleted voice lacking any real spirit.

"Ok," Ino said, "What happened?" She sat down and dragged her chair closer to her friend so as to give them some privacy.

"It's Sasuke-kun." Sakura started.

"Obviously, who else do you think about?" Ino said, "But what exactly did Sasuke-kun do? I mean, come on, it's not like he's ever NOT in a bad mood."

"No," Sakura said, dismissing her friend's comment, "It isn't that; in fact," Here Sakura sat up quickly, an idea coming to her head, "It's the complete opposite."

"What?!" Ino practically shouted. "Oh hell no forehead, if Sasuke-kun's showing feelings for you, don't expect me to just sit here cheering; I'm gonna—"

"No, Ino-pig, that wouldn't BE a problem, now would it!" Sakura paused after momentarily loosing her patience. Then she slumped down into her chair again, this time when she spoke her voice was only a little above a whisper, "But today, Sasuke-kun actually did show his feelings, he just showed them towards someone else."

"Huh?" Ino got closer, "Repeat what you just said, forehead, cause I clearly heard you wrong; Sasuke-kun has feelings for someone?"

"Yeah."

"Bull-shit!" Ino said quickly, "Like Sasuke-kun would ever do that?" Then she paused, the smirked expression on her face turning serious, then shocked, and finally angry. "What?!" She screamed again, "Who the hell is this bitch and where can I find her?"

"Ino," Sakura started.

"Who is she; anyone we know? I bet its Karin, she's always looking at him."

"Ino—"

"Probably, the little slut," Ino said, glancing at the table where Karin sat with one of her only friends not associated with the Snake gang; the table was currently empty seeing how neither girl was in class yet.

Then Ino's blue eyes were off scanning the rest of the room for other possible threats, "Maybe it's Temari, as if her boobs can't be any bigger!"

"Ino, you're not letting me finish."

"Well, who the hell is it?" Ino was still glancing around paranoid, "I mean if it _was_ going to be anyone," Ino continued, "It should have been one of us." Here she seemed to talk quicker, "I mean we're the most dedicated and loyal, and WHO THE HELL CUT IN FRONT OF US ANYWAYS?!"

"That's just the thing; it's not a girl, so we can't get on her case." Sakura said slowly; Ino looked a bit puzzled now. Sakura continued: "It's Naruto."

Ino's shoulders visibly sagged as she let out a breath, the anger on her face fading; suddenly she burst out laughing.

"Only you, forehead," Ino said, after she laughed herself dry, "Honestly, Naruto? I should kill you for getting me that worked up."

"But you weren't there, Ino," Sakura looked down at her hands; the intensity in her voice beginning to rise as if she was about to hyperventilate: "You didn't see just how angry Sasuke-kun got, what he did, and all for Naruto!"

"Ok, rewind." Ino said, "Start at the beginning; what happened in Biology?"

Sakura took a deep, steadying breath; she hadn't realized that she had gotten that worked up.

"Ok, in Biology, as usual Kabuto and some of the Snake gang decided to trip Naruto."

"Uh huh, sounds normal, go on."

"Well, Sasuke-kun stood up for him."

"Again, no big news flash there; doesn't he always?"

"Yes, but this time, Orochimaru-sensei arrived right in the middle of it."

"You know, it is his class, so I'm surprised he hasn't caught them earlier?" Ino questioned, "You know, that is odd, how come Orochimaru-sensei has never stopped them before, I mean he is in his office, right?"

Sakura shook her head: "That's not the point." Though it was a bit weird now that she thought of it; yet it really didn't matter. To Sakura, all that mattered right now was telling Ino about Sasuke's feelings for Naruto. Well, at least the feelings Sakura thought she had seen him express.

"The point is," Sakura continued, "Orochimaru-sensei came in and was going to give Sasuke-kun a detention!"

"Wow, really, Sasuke-kun has never been in detention before." Ino said, then smirked, "Though, that is pretty hot; he's so cool!"

"Yeah, that is new; and yes, Sasuke-kun is so hot and cool," Sakura said, her voice barely suppressing her own giddiness, before it turned serious again, "But again that's not what I meant when I said I saw Sasuke-kun showing emotions."

"Well then stop dragging me around the bush, forehead," Ino spat, "Just spit it out already!"

"Okay, well then Naruto talked back to Orochimaru-sensei, saying it wasn't fair that Sasuke-kun was the one getting the detention when it was Kabuto who started it."

"Oh, I bet Naruto was chewed out by Orochimaru-sensei for that one, right?"

"Yeah, Orochimaru-sensei really sounded scary when he snapped at Naruto." Sakura's voice quivered slightly while memories of her teacher's livid face momentarily flashed in her mind. "Then, Sasuke-kun snapped back at Orochimaru-sensei, and I mean, I've never heard him sound so angry:

He told him to never talk that way to Naruto ever again." Sakura finished.

"Wow, Sasuke-kun said that to Orochimaru-sensei, oh my god!" Ino squealed; the giddiness seemed to be radiating from her now, "Oh man, he's so cool!"

"I think you're missing the point?" Sakura almost snapped, "Sasuke-kun was showing anger—real anger, not just indifference—about someone being mean to Naruto."

"And?" Ino replied.

"And!" Sakura gasped.

"So what, he got angry when someone insulted his friend?"

"Well, wait until I tell you what happened next." Sakura said defensively.

"Then Kabuto tells Sasuke-kun that the reason he's always defending Naruto is because he's gay."

"Whoa, Kabuto actually called Sasuke-kun gay?"

"Yeah, the whole class was shocked at that."

"Well don't stop there, what happened? Did Sasuke-kun wipe the floor with him?"

"Yeah actually, he just attacked him; shoved him into a table and everything."

"Wow, I wish I was there to see that." Ino said, her voice not even trying to hide the longing she felt at this. Then she glanced over at Sakura who had resumed her earlier position of gloom.

"I fail to see what the big deal here is, Sakura-chan." Ino said, "So what he got angry; I mean that's to be expected isn't. Sasuke-kun's got a reputation to uphold, he can't actually let some guy call him _gay_ to his face and do nothing."

Sakura finally looked up at Ino, who after she noticed she had Sakura's attention, rushed on talking, "And the fact that he actually stuck up for Naruto, well, aren't they friends?" Then her nose scrunched up in disgust, "I mean, sure who'd really want to be friends with_ Naruto_. But, they are always together, so I take it they hang out after school and stuff."

At this Sakura's face seemed to drop all the more.

"Forehead, I really don't think you should be getting so bummed," Ino said again, "I mean, let's face it as cool as Sasuke-kun is with his dark, mysterious, talk-to-no-one-since-I'm-just-too-cool attitude, it really isn't getting _either _of us _anywhere_ with him."

More and more students were beginning to file into the classroom now. Ino leaned in closer to Sakura, so as to keep their conversation as private as possible, "So, maybe you should be glad that Sasuke-kun actually has a friend."

"Sasuke-kun has lots of friends."

"Oh, course he has 'lots of friends' everyone thinks he's so cool." Ino replied, "But when does he ever talk to any of these admirers, huh?" Ino continued, "I mean, look at how much he talks to us, and whenever he does talk to us, he is always in such a bad mood."

"Yeah I suppose."

"So, even though, he_** really**_ could do better with his pick of friends, at least he's actually starting to make them." Suddenly, her eyes flashed with annoyance and her face scrunched up in a look somewhere between disgust and frustration, "I don't know about you, but if Sasuke-kun and I are ever gonna get together, he needs to actually start being normal."

Sakura's jaw dropped, "Did you really call Sasuke-kun not normal?"

"Well, he isn't," Ino answered, "He's always brooding and really doesn't talk to anyone. I mean, if he wasn't so good looking or from that super rich family, I don't know if he'd be so popular."

Sakura's fingers resting on her knee began to twitch, her face darkening. She looked like she was going to strangle her best friend at any moment.

"Hang on, hang on." Ino said quickly, raising her hands defensively, "I'm just saying that this is a good thing, like a step of improvement for Sasuke-kun; in a way it makes him more available and definitely more approachable."

"Not if he likes Naruto that way." Sakura countered.

"Come on, Naruto's just a friend; besides, Naruto is a guy!"

"Well, what if Sasuke's gay?"

"Come on, guys that are _that_ good looking definitely are not gay." Sakura didn't look impressed by her friend's conclusion, but Ino pressed on anyways.

"Plus, men are men and consequently they want women." Here Ino seemed to go all schoolteacher-like, "Why? For one reason and one reason alone, and it's something that other men just don't have."

Sakura looked at her puzzled.

"Boobs, obviously!" Ino smiled brightly, "Men want boobs and Sasuke-kun is a man, therefore he wants boobs too."

Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me, all you saw was Sasuke-kun sticking up for a friend; cause, come on, Sasuke-kun can't just sit there while his friend get insulted, he's way too proud for that."

"He didn't say anything in Algebra?" Sakura countered.

"Algebra?" Ino looked a bit puzzled, "Oh that, we were just having some fun that's all, I'm sure Sasuke-kun probably thought it was funny."

"I don't know, he wasn't laughing, and he looked pretty pissed."

"That's just because he's Sasuke-kun." Ino said as if was the normal thing. "Besides it wasn't like it wasn't true, I mean Naruto isn't exactly the brightest when it comes to Algebra, now is he?"

"Still you were being pretty mean," Sakura said. She opened her mouth to continue but Ino cut in.

"Okay, in that case it only proves my point. The anger you saw was really Sasuke-kun upset that Kabuto called him gay, it had nothing to do with Naruto at all."

"But—"

Ino put up a finger to silence her, "Think about it, if he didn't say anything in Algebra and you said he looked pissed, he probably didn't care that much. But, since he's _not_ gay there's no way he could allow Kabuto to call him that in front of the entire class and just stand there. He'd loose his touch guy rep."

"I don't know," Sakura said uncertainly. "I suppose you could be right."

"Trust me, forehead, even _you_ have more of a chance with Sasuke-kun than Naruto," Ino said smartly, "Though if it's a question about having the bigger boobs, I'm definitely ahead of you!"

Sakura just nodded absently; she was still thinking about what Ino had just said. It did make since. Perhaps Sasuke-kun was just protecting his reputation? But that still didn't explain the anger Sasuke expressed towards Orochimaru when the teacher had snapped at Naruto. Kabuto hadn't called Sasuke gay then, that happened afterwards. It was then that Ino's insult registered in Sakura's mind, "What?!" She replied, ten seconds having already passed, "As if your boobs are better than mine!" However when it came to the 'boob argument' Sakura normally steered clear given that she was still only a 32A (she did however buy 32B cup size bras to feel better). Still, Ino was already reaching C-level cup size.

It was then that Sakura remembered the look on Sasuke's face right after Kabuto had called him gay.

"I don't know Ino, you didn't see his face." Sakura said, in a hollow-sounding voice. Having obsessed over a certain person for so long, she was more than familiar with embarrassment when she saw it; especially when that embarrassment came from hiding one's feelings.

"When Kabuto called him gay, Sasuke-kun turned a slight shade redder." Sakura continued, her voice trailing off a bit, "It wasn't that noticeable, but…" Sakura had noticed it; to her it was very recognizable. Hadn't she made those same looks herself when she was younger when Ino had accused her of liking Sasuke? At that time, Sakura had been too shy to admit to such feelings, even to herself at first. That was how Sasuke had looked. He had looked extremely uncomfortable: his eyes had widened, his normally pale cheeks had tinged a slightly pinkish hue, and his mouth had opened ever so slightly. Then he had gotten angry. It was his anger that had almost completely covered up Sasuke's first reaction. To everyone else, and apparently Ino too, Sasuke was just defending his reputation.

However, Sakura had seen his first expression and had felt as if she had been looking at herself years ago. No, Sasuke definitely had to feel something for Naruto other than just friendship.

"You're overreacting, forehead," Ino said stubbornly when she noticed that Sakura had gone back to staring down at her chair again, her jade-colored irises looking slightly unfocused.

The bell rang, officially ending their conversation.

Suddenly, Naruto entered through the door. Sasuke wasn't with him. Quickly he went over to his usual table where Sakura saw Sasuke was already sitting. Sakura hadn't even noticed that Sasuke had come in. _So they didn't walk to class together?_ Sakura thought, a tiny hope beginning to flicker within her. _Perhaps, Ino-pig is right; maybe Sasuke-kun doesn't feel anything other than friendship for Naruto?

* * *

_Naruto dropped his book bag on to the hard surface of the table he shared with Sasuke.

The First Aid classroom was made up of long, black tables that formed two rows one on either side of the room. Since this was a health class it was typically small. So each table contained a desktop computer; the remaining table space only held room for two people to sit at. All around the room were posters of First Aid related topics and procedures.

Naruto noticed a poster of an older man. The photo was in black and white. The man looked foreign, probably a Westerner. He had a long, white beard and wore a funny looking hat; it looked like he was wearing the top part of a black top hat on his head. Below the picture in tiny font was the encryption: 'Henry Dunant, founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross.'

_Stuffy, old man_, Naruto thought; the usual thoughts that came to his head whenever his eye came across that particular poster at the back of the room.

The rest of the posters were equally as boring in his mind. One was a long, horizontal picture that read: 'Choking First Aid For Children Chart.' Like he'd ever need to know that kind of information, it wasn't like he particularly wanted a brat around anyways. Though that particular thought always made him wonder what it would have been like to have had a little sister or brother? Naruto felt a lump in his throat at that thought; quickly he turned his gaze away from that poster.

Next, his eyes found a medium, square-sized poster over on the right-hand side of the classroom: '_First Aid for Burns_,' it read. Naruto wondered if they would ever have to do a live demonstration of that one. He couldn't help smirking: if the teacher needed help choosing volunteers to be the burn victims he had a few people in mind.

It was then that his eyes noticed a blank spot on the wall; it looked as if one of the posters had been taken down. That was a bit odd, but Naruto didn't really care what happen to any of those stupid posters on the wall. Today especially he wasn't particularly interested in the surrounding classroom. Instead he looked over to the dark haired boy beside him.

Sasuke was sitting in the seat closest to the computer. His dark eyes were staring at some unknown spot; he didn't even acknowledge that Naruto was there. Naruto just growled inside. Was Sasuke ignoring him now?

"Alright brats, bell rang, you're mine for the next ninety minutes." Tsunade-sensei spoke from the front of the class. She was the teacher who taught the First Aid class, as well as all of the other health-related classes. Naruto even heard that she was going to teach a Sex Ed class next semester. The thought of Tsunade-sensei talking about the female anatomy made Naruto feel a bit hard. _Maybe she_'_ll even give a live demonstration,_ he couldn't help thinking.

Tsunade-sensei crossed her arms firmly over her chest, making her already large breasts bulge out against her thin, cotton blouse. Naruto swallowed. He had to admit, that though he had first signed up in this class to see Sakura, getting a view of Tsunade-sensei's full, almost balloon-sized breasts made up for the fact that Sakura never talked to him. That and Sasuke also joining the class, though Naruto was still amazed that he had gotten Sasuke to sign up for First Aid in the first place. Sasuke wasn't really a people person, despite everybody adoring him. In fact, Naruto really couldn't see Sasuke doing the Heimlich maneuver on anyone, even if it were a child in dire need of help. Let alone, Sasuke actually going mouth-to-mouth to someone in CPR. That last thought made him chuckle.

Then Naruto saw Sasuke shift his black notebook slightly on the table. Naruto glanced over at him quickly. Sasuke looked indifferent; his face relaxed in the typical bored expression that was usually found there. Still he continued to ignore Naruto; Naruto's grin quickly faded.

"I hope you all have read enough of Chapter 3 so when you're asked to demonstrate in class today you don't accidentally kill anyone." A sadistic smile broke out on the teacher's face; several people from the class exchanged worried glances, others looked shocked. "Nobody here should act surprised, I been saying since last week we are going to be practicing CPR today."

Naruto inwardly flipped; they were doing CPR today?! It was then that his mind remembered what poster it was that had been taken down from the wall; it was the one that showed a person performing CPR. So that's why it was taken down, today they would be performing that procedure in class from memory. He had totally forgotten. And, as far as reading Chapter 3 went he had yet to even open the book. Naruto retrieved his First Aid book from his back pack and quickly thumbed to the chapter that read "Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation." Again, he looked over to Sasuke. Sasuke already had Chapter 3 opened; his book had been turned to page 135: _Chapter 3.5_._ Putting Knowledge into Practice_.

Naruto copied his friend. Chapter 3 of the First Aid book first talked about the history of CPR, then it went into its possible uses, and finally it had gone into how to correctly perform the procedure. Naruto flipped anxiously through the pages hoping that he could grasp what would take thirty minutes to read in about five seconds. _This is just great!_ Again, he couldn't help but glance over at Sasuke. Sasuke was looking at Tsunade-sensei, who still was speaking at the front of the class, though Naruto had started his usual ritual of tuning her out after the first couple of sentences.

Naruto scanned over a page about how to check someone's vitals to see if CPR was needed; yet, his mind couldn't seem to move past the first paragraph. _Dammit!_ Every time he went to move on, his thoughts brought up an entirely different conversation altogether. He couldn't stop himself; again he looked over to Sasuke. _Why did he just take off like that after class?_ Then Naruto snorted, _Well if that bastard is gonna start blaming me for receiving detention, then he's got another thing coming!_'

"Shouldn't you be reading instead of staring over at me every five seconds?" Sasuke said coolly, still not looking at Naruto, "Since we actually have to perform this today, and given how you haven't read anything yet, I would think that reading over the last section on how to perform CPR would be your first priority."

"What the hell is your problem, Sasuke-teme?" Naruto started, his voice a bit loud, though he was trying to keep it down, "So, you're ignoring me now then?"

"Idiot," Sasuke murmured, before continuing, "You can be so dumb Naruto, yeah, say that _after_ I just talked to you." He still hadn't looked at Naruto.

"You know what I mean," Naruto said, "What, so now you're mad at me for you getting detention?" Sasuke was quiet. Naruto took that as a yes.

"You know, teme, I never asked you to get in when Kabuto and those assholes were being jerks, you did that yourself," Naruto looked down at his book so his voice wouldn't carry too far. Sasuke still said nothing; he looked like he was listening to Tsunade-sensei. Naruto just growled at this.

"I didn't need your help anyway," Naruto said. He was starting to not feel so good. Still Sasuke said nothing; his cold eyes staring straight ahead. It was as if Naruto didn't exist, again.

"It's not like I can't take care of myself, you know," Naruto's voice was beginning to tremble from all of the anger that was building inside him, and his stomach was really starting to hurt, "Besides it was Orochimaru-sensei's fault for being so dense, he's the one who gave you detention anyway, be mad at him." Naruto quickly rubbed his stomach; he wasn't certain why now of all times he was feeling sick. No sooner had he thought that then Jirobo's words seemed to echo in his mind, '_Just because he tolerates you, doesn't mean he actually cares about you._'

Perhaps all Sasuke did really was tolerate Naruto. Suddenly, Naruto fell quiet. There was one thing that Naruto hated and that was being around when nobody really wanted him there anyway. He would prefer to just be alone then awkwardly sitting with a group of people sending annoyed looks at him telling him he could just as much die for all they cared. Though the mention of being alone again made Naruto's stomach ache more painfully.

Naruto had thought that Sasuke was different; however, perhaps he had really just been tricking himself. Jirobo did have a point: the only reason Sasuke had problems with any classmate in school was because of Naruto. If Sasuke hadn't had to stick up for his loser friend Naruto, perhaps he really would be liked by everyone; he probably could even be able to join Snake. He sure as hell wouldn't be facing one of Orochimaru-sensei's detentions.

Sasuke just kept staring ahead, he hadn't responded since he made that last comment. It looked like he had forgotten all about Naruto. From his quick glances at Sasuke, Naruto couldn't help but notice that Sasuke's dark hair seemed to look extra soft and gleamed against the light filtering in through the nearby window. His skin looked smooth and flawless, like a pale shade of porcelain that seemed to both contrast and complement his dark hair and dark onyx eyes.

Naruto grimaced; Sasuke really was perfect. Perhaps Naruto needed to get the hint that Sasuke was too good of a friend for someone like him. Sasuke probably didn't care; hell, why was someone like him even supposed to care for someone like Naruto anyways?

Sasuke meanwhile was thinking about his blonde comrade at his side, whose side-glances were now becoming annoying. _When is he gonna stop that already_? Sasuke tried to focus on Tsunade-sensei; he didn't want to keep seeing the glances of hurt coming from his friend's eyes.

_I wonder if he believes what Jirobo said?_ Sasuke thought. Then he got angry; why the hell did he have to worry about Naruto's feelings? Hell, for that matter why did he have to even care?

This was the very reason why Sasuke avoided friends; he didn't have the time or the energy to deal with other people's needs. He didn't even want to deal with his own feelings, much less anyone else's.

Naruto meanwhile was still fuming at Sasuke's silence. As if to add to his aching stomach, a numb, almost depressing feeling was beginning to weigh him down.

"Well, you know what Sasuke-teme," Naruto spat, spinning around in his seat to look directly at Sasuke. "I don't give a damn that you got detention! Hell you should, it'll bring you down to the level of the rest of us." Suddenly, horror flooded Naruto's mind as he realized that his eyes were misting and his voice had cracked with those last words.

Now Naruto had Sasuke's attention. Sasuke's eyes widened, his neutral face seemed to try to form into an expression somewhere between shock and anger (and was that pity?).

Sasuke's mind was swirling; he was caught between restraining his emotions and trying to comfort his friend. Naruto looked as if he would break down at any moment. That was too much for Sasuke; he really wouldn't know what to do if Naruto lost control. Well, he would either do one of two things: 1) turn his back on his friend and try to ignore him, not letting his friend's problems affect him, or 2) he would actually have to react to his friend's emotional state. However, since Sasuke didn't even know how to react to those kinds of emotions (he never even allowed himself to bring those kinds of feelings up to the surface), he tried to push the first reaction. Yet, his mind failed to comply; for some reason he just couldn't turn his back on Naruto.

"Naruto," Sasuke's eyes found Naruto's deep, blue ones. He could easily see the hurt reflected there; unlike Naruto's voice which could hide behind anger, Naruto's eyes didn't have that luxury.

"Don't pay any attention to what Jirobo said," Sasuke said before he could stop himself, "He doesn't know what the hell he's talking about."

"Y-you heard that?" Naruto asked, his voice just a whisper.

Sasuke nodded, "I only sat a row behind you."

Naruto went silent; his eyes seemed like they were searching Sasuke's, but for what Sasuke wasn't sure.

Sasuke was pissed. Hell, he was beyond pissed. Damn his mind, damn Naruto who had wormed his way into his heart; damn Naruto who had actually gotten Sasuke to react instinctively to his needs. _Dammit_! Sasuke never felt more exposed. Even though he felt lonely within the walls he had built up around himself, at least he felt safe. Now he had taken down a couple of bricks so that Naruto could enter—or more like Naruto had somehow tricked him into doing so. But in doing so, Sasuke knew he had left a part of himself so utterly exposed. He was panicking inside; he didn't want to trust again, he didn't even know if he could anymore. What he did know was that he couldn't take anymore of that kind of pain. Suddenly, it was as if he could feel the thoughts coming on before they struck. Before he knew it his mind was overwhelmed with feelings: anger, fear, and a horrible sadness: _Shit! Not now of all times…_

Suddenly he was in that dark room again. The only light was the one spilling in from the open doorway. The air felt stale. Sasuke's breathing started to sound raspy. _Not here; fuck, I thought I got rid of these thoughts..._

Suddenly, Sasuke realized, as a pang of fear erupted in his gut, that it wasn't his breathing that he was hearing. The raspy sounds were coming from the nearby bed. His eyes found the shape of a man sitting on edge of the bed. Sasuke felt cold chills engulf his body. _Not there; oh god, not there…_

Helplessly Sasuke found his eyes going to look over at the figure sitting on the bed; he felt his body moving towards the bed. _Stop! Not there._ Yet his body did not stop. The figure's head hung low; dark strands of hair fell into his face and hid his eyes from view. Then Sasuke stepped in something, he felt the wetness soaking into his sock. _No, please._ Yet, his fingers went down to investigate, coming up his fingertips were covered in blood.

"Get out." Whispered a hash voice.

_No!_ Sasuke didn't want to relive this horror anymore. _Not here of all places!_ Yet his brain would not respond; instead his eyes looked back over to the bed. Red eyes were glaring back at him. Sasuke started to tremble.

"What part of get out do you not understand?" Said the voice, this time Sasuke could hear the unmistakable sadness that lurked behind the harsh tone. Suddenly, he felt besieged by emotions: sadness, pain, regret, they all seemed to clamp down on to his heart. _Dammit, why the hell didn't I just leave?_ Sasuke thought uncontrollably. For one painful moment, more of that horrible, suffocating regret clutched at his gut, and seemed to constrict his breathing. Somehow Sasuke knew he had to calm himself down, else the entire class was going to see him have a breakdown. It had been so long since the last time he had any of those—Bad idea, the moment his mind thought of those thoughts, images flooded his mental view.

The man sitting on the bed began to rise, turning those red eyes to look at him again. Sasuke could see a limp arm clutched against the man's body. "Big brother?" he heard himself say.

_Fucking, get out of my head!_ Sasuke screamed into his mind. He needed to block out these images. Pain, he needed pain. Instantly, Sasuke turned the mechanical pencil he was holding in his hand inward, and as hard as he could clutched his hand into a fist. The pencil point dug deep into his palm. Sasuke flinched; the sharp pain momentarily overwhelming his senses.

Sasuke squeezed his hand tighter. He focused on the pain, letting it dull out all of those painful memories. He released a shaky breath. He could feel those images beginning to subside back into the deep drenches of his subconscious. Sasuke's hand clenched again; he focused more on that glorious, mind-numbing pain until he could no longer even think about those thoughts that terrified him so.

It was then that he remembered that he was still in the middle of his First Aid classroom. Instantly embarrassment flooded in. He snapped his eyes back in to focus; only to find Naruto's face inches away from his own, worry and concern shown through now widened, sapphire eyes. Then Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand and forced open his fist.

"Dammit, Sasuke, what the hell?" Naruto asked in a whispered voice, his fear for his friend suddenly turning into anger. It had been right after Sasuke had said those words to Naruto which had made him feel the first signs of relief since Sasuke had walk out on him after Biology: He had been searching Sasuke's eyes, looking for the truth in those deep, onyx pools, when the next thing he knew, Sasuke's eyes lost focus as if he was somewhere else entirely, and his body had gone rigid. The next thing Naruto knew, Sasuke had gasped in pain. Naruto had looked down to see a small trail of blood coming from his friend's tightened fist.

Naruto looked down at Sasuke's hand that he now held in his own; the thin, graphite lead from the mechanical pencil had been shoved deep enough into the skin to draw blood.

"What the fuck did you do that for?" Naruto started, but Sasuke pulled his hand anyway. His face returning to his normal neutral, almost bored expression; with a snort he replied, "It's nothing, I'm fine."

"No you're not, you're—" Naruto fell silent; a shadow had fallen over their table. Tsunade-sensei was standing right in front of him, her arms crossed, her hazel eyes narrowing as she looked down at them.

"Am I interrupting a moment here?" She said loudly. Naruto noticed the entire class was staring at them, those whose tables were ahead of the one Sasuke and him were sitting, had turned completely around. With all of these faces looking at him, Naruto felt his cheeks start to burn.

"No ma'am," He somehow muttered.

"Sasuke, what the hell did you do to your hand?" Tsunade said the moment she looked from Naruto to Sasuke. Sasuke faltered taken off guard. He didn't have a comeback; nobody was supposed to see this, what was he suppose to say? Quickly, Sasuke slipped his hand into his pocket, wiping it hard against the fabric before he pulled it out again. Then he showed it to the teacher.

"It's nothing, just an accident." Sasuke said quickly. The entire class was staring at him now. Sasuke felt like he had suddenly been transported inside the white room again. Only instead of the cold, unforgiving eyes of his father and the pitiful glances of the policemen, this time it was the entire class staring down at him while he sat in that gigantic chair, his shoes dangling several feet from the ground. He felt so exposed. _Stop staring at me!_ Sasuke pressed his feet into the ground to reassure himself that he wasn't actually back there. He was still sitting in a regular sized chair in the First Aid classroom; there was no need to flip out. Damn those thoughts, they couldn't just disappear, instead they had to leave their bitter aftertaste in his mind.

"It-it's nothing." Sasuke said again, cursing the tremble in his voice. _Dammit! Now, I'm sounding like a fucking pussy!_

Tsunade-sensei grabbed his hand and opened up his palm. He had pretty much wiped the blood off with that quick insertion into his pocket, yet the tip of graphite lead still dug into his skin.

"Accident, huh?" Tsunade muttered; Sasuke nodded. "Damn, Uchiha, pay more attention to what you're doing, and for God's sake don't use so much force to hold your pencil, it could have gone right through your hand!"

"Sorry Tsunade-sensei." Sasuke said quickly, taking his hand away from her grasp. The class was still looking at him. Sasuke quickly hid behind his impassive exterior, a bored look crossing his face. Naruto was still looking at him, his face looked angry, yet those deep blue eyes of his kept silently voicing his concern for his friend. Sasuke found himself hating his friend's eyes; he didn't want Naruto's concern, much less his pity.

* * *

Sakura continued to watch Sasuke even after the rest of the class's attention went back to Tsunade-sensei as she continue to go over the section on CPR procedure. ("For the last time, because I am a _nice_ teacher," Had been her reasoning). But, Sakura having long read and understood the chapter when it was first assigned now focused her attention entirely on her dark-eyed crush. Sasuke was staring at the teacher as if he was paying attention. His composure looked the same as always: neutral, focused, and bored all at the same time. Then Sakura glanced over at Naruto. He too looked like his attention was on Tsunade-sensei, however every so often his head would turn slightly so he could look at Sasuke.

Sakura whimpered softly. Absently her jade eyes found the unfocused pages of her open First Aid book. Now, she could no longer deny it; Ino had been wrong, there was something going on between them.

Unlike the rest of the class that had only paid attention to Sasuke and Naruto when Tsunade-sensei had approached the two, Sakura had never taken her eyes off of them. Right before she had seen Sasuke stab himself with the pencil, she had definitely seen something in the way Naruto's face had looked as he was searching Sasuke's eyes. It was as if he was looking for acceptance, but moreover as if he was looking for acceptance from someone who deeply mattered. What was worse was the look of something that resembled compassion coming from those dark onyx orbs right before Sasuke had turned and did something so terrible. Yes, even worse then Sasuke and Naruto displaying feelings for each other, was the fact that Sasuke had hurt himself.

_Why would he even do something like that?_ The ease at which he did it made it seem as if it was something he could have done regularly. Sakura's face dimmed: the very thought of Sasuke hurting made her want to run over and comfort him. And to think that he was hurting himself didn't help.

She stared longingly over at Naruto. _He doesn't know how lucky he has it._

Then her eyes went back to Sasuke: _If only I was there, then I could comfort you, Sasuke-kun._ She imagined that she took Naruto's place at Sasuke's side. Her thoughts turned to Sasuke's hand; she imagined taking his palm in her hands. Lovingly, she began to kiss his self-inflicted wound, her lips lingering over the bruised skin.

* * *

Naruto kept stealing side-glances at Sasuke. _What the hell did he do that for?_ It had happened so fast so Naruto couldn't be sure, but he didn't think it was an accident as Sasuke had claimed. Naruto knew that his mind should be on his teacher's lecture—since it was targeted specifically towards him—but he couldn't get Sasuke off his brain.

He thought back to what Sasuke had said. _"Don't pay any attention to what Jirobo said."_ Did that mean that Sasuke did care about him? Well, Sasuke had defended him, even against Orochimaru-sensei. Now that Naruto thought of it, no one ever stood up for him; hell, even the teachers would laugh sometimes instead of breaking it up. No one stood up for him except for Sasuke. Despite other thoughts in his mind, Naruto felt somewhat better. His stomach, though it still felt a little bit uncomfortable, felt like it would manage. Sasuke was his friend and that was all that mattered.

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the glitches, I noticed some errors that I wanted to fix.

Hopefully I didn't take too long posting this one. I said that Friday was my max date to post, but proofreading/editing took me over that, sorry ya'll! I think it's funny that I was mentioning the whole beta thing and now FF has a beta reader program! Still, it is still pretty new so, I think I'll wait a bit before I try it out. Though, if anyone has tried it out already, I'd be curious to hear how it went.

Anyways tell me what you thought of the chapter! Thanks for reading :)


	6. Partners, mouthpieces, & CPR

Warning: This story is rated **M** for the following: foul **language**,** shōnen-ai** (boy-love) and **yaoi** related themes, **sexual content **and** sexual molestation**. This may not be apparent within the first several chapters however later on expect to see explicit sexual content and other mature themes. Again, this story will contain **SLASH** among other mature themes, so you've been warned!

Pairing: SasuNaruSasu

A/N: Sorry everyone! That was probably the LONGEST I've gone without an update. So long I think everyone's probably forgotten what happened in the last chapter! Anyways, sorry about that. These last few months have been hectic…far too much has been happening in so short a time. However, now I have a lot more time on my hands so, I should be back to putting out chapters at one to two week intervals.

A/N continued: Oh, and **Navi-sama**, am I too late to get that personal slave?! Cause I could totally take you up on the offer, my house chores are endless…especially my laundry! Of course, my hubby got a totally different meaning out of that one (wink)…but we'll just leave it at that :P

Criticism: I take all criticisms. Just tell me what you think.

* * *

**Things Pile On**

**Chapter 6: ****Should-be Partners, Mouthpieces (or lack of?), and CPR-Induced feelings!**

"Ok brats, I've wiped your fannies enough already," Tsunade-sensei said, slamming her First Aid Instructor's book shut. "Now let's see how much you guys are actually paying attention."

_Shit!_ Naruto cursed inwardly; he hadn't listened at all.

"Alright, brake up into groups of two."

"What?" Ten Ten asked, "I thought we were gonna demonstrate on the manikin; why do we need to get into groups?" She looked uncertain as if she was inwardly asking herself why again she had chosen to take _First Aid_ and not _General Health and Awareness_ like most students took to fill the requirement for a health-related class.

"Oh, I didn't mention," Tsunade-sensei said with a face that looked all too innocent, "You'll be working in pairs today to demonstrate your knowledge of CPR."

Murmurs erupted around the room, as the class expressed (however muffled) their opinion on this manner.

"What a bunch of babies!" Tsunade-sensei taunted, "I want all of you to learn the procedure on a real body instead of a rigid manikin."

Ino was the first one of the class to recover from shock; suddenly her blue eyes found Sasuke.

"Ooo, Sasuke-kun!" she cried, jumping out of her seat, "I'll be in you're group!"

"Don't even think of it, Ino-pig!" Sakura screamed behind her friend.

But while Ino and Sakura tried to shove each other out of the way, another girl with short blonde hair and green eyes had reached Sasuke first. Yumi sat in the table ahead of Sasuke and Naruto's, so it wasn't hard for her to beat the two fangirls distracted fighting each other a couple tables away. She was just about to ask him to be in her group, when Sasuke said: "I'm already in a group with Naruto."

"Huh?" Naruto asked, looking around.

He had looked up from his First Aid book only to notice that all of the girls in class that had flocked over to his friend. Even Ten Ten looked hesitant, her head teetering between Sasuke and Neji, another guy two tables back from where she sat. Neji's face, which was framed on either side by long, light brown hair, wore a similar stoic and uncaring expression as Sasuke's. Yet his eyes were the complete opposite of Sasuke's; looking more like two twin opals with pupils that seemed non existent, Naruto had yet to see stranger looking eyes. Still, Neji was not the only one who had these strange white eyes; Hinata, his cousin, also bore the family's signature trait. It looked like Neji was arching an elegant eyebrow at him, but it was hard to tell because of the gray bandanna Neji typically wore right at the level of his eyebrows.

Two other girls flocking over to his table drew Naruto's attention back to the fact that most of the girls in First Aid were crowding around Sasuke. Naruto noted that Temari seemed to be the only girl still sitting in her seat. Well, Hinata was also still in her seat, but Naruto hadn't really expected her to leave her chair: that would be far too great a feat for the overly shy girl. Naruto noticed that Hinata was looking down at her desk, her index fingers lightly tapping together. Inwardly he sighed; Hinata could be so weird at times.

After a quick glance at Hinata, Naruto looked over to where Temari was sitting. So perhaps it was true then? _She and Shikamaru, huh?_ Naruto thought. Suddenly, she turned her head and gave him a quick smirk, her smile seeming almost flirtatious. Was a girl like Temari actually smiling at him? Naruto looked around checking for anyone behind him that might have drawn her attention. Of course. She had been looking over at his table swarmed with girls and had thrown, not him, but Sasuke a knowing smirk, which either told him derogatorily '_good luck with that_,' or else she was complimenting him. Naruto sighed. Of course a girl like Temari wouldn't be smiling at him. Those kinds of girls were reserved for the really sexy guys, like Sasuke, or the really smart guys, like Shikamaru; not someone like him.

It was then that Naruto noticed Temari's attention had left his table and was now on Tsunade-sensei; again that knowing smirk of hers was on her face. Naruto wondered what she was smiling about now.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered that the teacher had told them to break into groups. But as to why he didn't know. It wasn't his fault; it was Tsunade-sensei's! She's the one that totally freaked him out when she told the class they were doing CPR demonstrations today. Could that be what the groups had been for? But weren't they supposed to be working on Nurse Betty, the CPR demonstration manikin. If only he had been paying attention and not flipping through his First Aid book at break neck speed trying desperately to memorize something—anything—that would make today's demonstration's a bit easier.

"Groups, what for?" Naruto decided to ask.

"Idiot," Sasuke answered, "CPR demonstration; I swear dobe, do you ever listen in class?"

It was then that it clicked in. Tsunade had given them permission to work with anyone in class! No, he couldn't have heard that right; they got to choose a partner to perform mouth-to-mouth on! Gods, he loved this teacher. There wasn't a thought in his mind about who he would ask. Well, for a fraction of a second Sasuke's face had flashed in his mind, but then it was overwhelmed by a torrent of thoughts filled with everything Sakura. Suddenly, he registered what Sasuke had just told Yumi earlier: _'I'm already in a group with Naruto.'_

"What the hell are you being with me for?" Naruto said, his thoughts still swarmed with Sakura.

"So, Sakura-chan, since Sasuke's already taken,"—here his eyes darted over to Yumi still standing by their table, who seemed to visibly light up at the idea—"I'll be in your group."

"Ewww!" Sakura cried, "Naruto that is the most disgusting thought ever!"

She and Ino had just came over to Naruto's table, having finally stopped shoving into each other long enough to realize that the competition for Sasuke's partner was going on without them.

"Sasuke-kun," Ino said throwing a smirk in Naruto's direction and shoving a startled Yumi aside. Quickly she grabbed Sasuke's arm and pulling him from his seat said, "Since Naruto's already with Sakura, you can be in my group!"

Yumi just turned and was about to head for to her seat. But before she could leave, Karin appeared at her shoulder and stopped her. Yumi seemed to be the only girl friend that Karin hung around, that wasn't in Snake that is. Apparently the redhead wasn't about to let Sakura and Ino claim her man, nor she was going to let her friend give up that easily either.

Sakura meanwhile was just about to charge Ino when suddenly Rock Lee stepped right in front of her, blocking her path towards Ino and Sasuke.

"Sakura-san!" Lee called in a boisterous voice, only a slight tingeing of his cheeks giving away any signs of discomfort. "I would be honored if you would be my demonstration partner for today's—!" But Sakura cut him off.

"What is it loser day?" She muttered, before shoving him out of her way. Ino was still hugging on to Sasuke's arm.

"First off," Sakura screamed, stepping in between Sasuke and Ino and pushing them apart, "I am not in a group with Naruto of all people!" She didn't even mention Lee at all. "So back off Ino-pig! Sasuke-kun is MINE!"

Sasuke was starting to feel claustrophobic. Even though he had managed to mask his outward appearance, inside felt a bit ill. It was those thoughts from earlier. As much as he hated to admit it, he always felt weaker after reliving the experience of them, weaker and a bit indisposed. And right now the girls' closeness didn't help any.

"You see?" Sakura said, "Sasuke-kun's frowning at you, which means he wants to be in MY group!"

Lee had turned to go back to his table, his head slightly downcast. Then he saw Ten Ten and his face went aglow with excitement, his already bulgy eyes looking even bigger.

Ten Ten, it seemed, had a Lee radar. For at that moment, she seemed to sense that not only was Lee coming over to her but he was about to ask her to be his partner. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, Ten Ten pointedly avoided eye contact and quickened her pace over to where Neji was sitting. Yet despite the fact that she was now only several feet away, Neji still hadn't seemed to notice her. Instead Ten Ten saw his eyes alternating between Sasuke's table and something in back of the room.

This was awkward; fortunately Ten Ten didn't get the chance to embarrass herself.

"Girls, girls!" Tsunade-sensei's booming voice caused the whole class to pause.

Still standing at the front of the classroom, Tsunade was beginning to look a bit pissed. "Silence already! Good lord! I've already got a headache as it is, I can only image how Sasuke must feel!"

"Besides, you already chose your groups." She said. The corners of her lips seemed to want to form into a smile.

"We did?" Both Ino and Sakura said at the same time.

"You didn't say that!" Karin said in her typical sassy voice. Yumi too was looking a bit puzzled.

"I shouldn't have had to." Tsunade replied, "I told you all when the semester started to find a seat next to someone you wouldn't mind seeing for the rest of the semester."

For once in his life, Sasuke felt extremely appreciative of his teacher.

"And how are we supposed to know that would mean we'd _always_ have to group with that person?!" whined Sakura.

"Well, listen more carefully next time," Was their teacher's only reply. Temari only smirked; Shikamaru just gave his usual bored look. Apparently they had remembered.

Everyone began to go back to their respective tables. Naruto however was getting the worst looks he had gotten in awhile. _Damn and I thought Orochimaru-sensei was scary,_ Naruto thought with a grimace as Ino shot him an icy glare.

Sakura stood there for a moment longer, then she turned and gave him the most disappointed look he had ever seen her make. Slowly she started to walk back to her seat.

Naruto couldn't help himself and before he even realized what he was saying yelled: "Oiy, Sakura-chan! You can take my place by Sasuke if you want!"

Sakura ignored him. Sasuke, however, gave him a look that clearly said: _do you __**want**__ to die?_

Naruto quickly looked away only to see the angry faces of Karin, Yumi and smaller-looking boy with black hair and glasses. The boy, upon noticing that Naruto was looking at him suddenly glared back.

"Hey, why the hell do you care, Toga?" Naruto shouted at the boy, "It's not like you're a girl?!"

Toga didn't respond, just quickly went back to his seat.

Sasuke meanwhile was inwardly rolling his eyes as he watched Toga leave. As if the women weren't bad enough. Then, as if to confirm this thought, Karin threw herself on him wrapping her long arms around his shoulders. Sasuke stumbled back a little; he wished she would warn him next time before throwing all of her weight on him. At least then, he would be prepared.

Karin didn't even have to look up at him as she looked into his dark onyx eyes. She titled her face slightly to the side as if she was preparing to kiss him. A somewhat crooked, but still sexy smile appearing on her face as she began to move her rather nice breasts slowly up and down against his chest, her rose-colored eyes flashing with excitement.

"Sure you wanna group with someone like _Naruto_ when you could be with me?"

Sasuke stared at her dumbfounded. Then before he could say anything, her long fingers went down and lightly squeezed him in the groin. Sasuke's breath drew in, his eyes widening uncontrollably.

"G-get off," Sasuke half-whispered and gave his shoulders a quick shake to try to break loose from her. Now that he thought of it, he really didn't invest much energy into shoving these annoying fangirls off of him. Not that he understood why? They were so annoying. On the other hand, he really couldn't remember the last time someone had actually hugged him, other than them of course.

"WHAAAT?!" Suddenly, the high-pitched screams of two very angry fangirls echoed throughout the room. Sasuke didn't have to wait long before Karin was roughly pushed off of him. Sakura and Ino were fuming.

"Stay off MY man, bitch!" Both Ino and Sakura yelled almost in sync.

"Since when is Sasuke-kun your man?" Karin fumed back. No one knew if she was talking to Ino or Sakura. Suddenly, she pushed the girl nearest to her, which happened to be Ino.

"GIRLS!" Tsunade roared, "Cool it!"

The class went silent. Tsunade-sensei now looked thoroughly pissed, and a pissed off Tsunade equaled a night of tedious and time-consuming homework.

Finally Tsunade spoke again, this time not so loudly: "This is why, ladies, and _gentleman_,"—here she gave a quick glance over at Toga, who from his seat also seemed to be fuming at what Karin had done to Sasuke—"I assigned groups so I wouldn't have to deal with this headache."

"Now, all of you go sit at your own tables and stop fussing over Sasuke; good lord, you girls are worse than sharks on a fish!"

Ino, Sakura and Karin, still dragging Yumi by the elbow, all headed for their seats.

Ino murmured something to Sakura which sounded distinctly like 'fugly lil' slut, who does she think she is!" Naruto didn't think they were talking about the teacher. Karin made an equally ugly face at Ino's and Sakura's backs. For some odd reason though, Naruto's mind went to the Mount Olympus of men's fantasies: women's mud wrestling. Gods, he would pay big money to see the three of them going at it covered in mud and wearing nothing but skimpily-clad bikinis.

Just then, Sasuke sat back down next to him. Naruto felt his mood beginning to return to his melancholy from earlier. He silently glanced over at his friend. He couldn't help but think of Sakura; and then couldn't help but feel a little bummed that she had turned him down. But, then again, what had he expected? Quickly, he looked back at her table. It looked like she was staring right at him! Naruto felt his heart jump up into his throat. Suddenly, he heard Sasuke clear his throat. It was then he noticed that Sakura's green eyes were really staring a little more to the right in Sasuke's direction. Naruto sighed, his heart slowly descending back into his chest.

Of course! Everyone wanted Sasuke. He had so many girls wanting to be with him—fighting for his attention. For a moment, Naruto wondered what that would be like. But other than Sasuke no one even talked to him. Oh, who was he kidding? Who would ever like him like that anyway?! He wasn't like Sasuke; he couldn't even get one girl, let alone any girl he wanted.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Naruto, large eyes that looked more like soft white opals, continued to watch him from a table at the back of the room. Hinata had wanted to go over to Naruto and ask if he would be her partner. But just as she thought she got the nerve up, her feet suddenly refused to obey her. Instead, she remained in her seat, her body leaning ever-so-slightly out of her chair.

She had to look across Kiba, her First Aid partner, since Naruto's table was on the opposite side of the room and Kiba sat on the end chair of her table. Every so often her eyes would dart in Kiba's direction just to make sure he wasn't looking at her. For some reason, Hinata felt even more embarrassed and uncomfortable when people looked at her. As if at any second they would start laughing at her. That, or start picking on her.

She wanted to kick herself for continuing this habit: Kiba was her best friend. He would never laugh at her no matter how silly she looked. Oddly, he had been the first guy that hadn't teased her when they were in middle school together. And after he started being her friend, the boys who used to have fun picking on the shy little girl in the corner suddenly found better things to do.

Still Hinata seemed to be unable to drop the habit of not wanting to draw people's attention, even though she was in high school now and the boys had long stopped teasing. Also, it wasn't just being afraid that the boys would pick on her; she didn't even feel comfortable joining the conversations the other girls were having. She wanted to, but she was afraid that she would say something foolish and suddenly everyone would start laughing at her. She seemed to never say the right words, especially when she needed to. She even had trouble getting a simple sentence to come out of her mouth without ending up stuttering. She never understood it. She didn't have a problem speaking her mind at home, but at school it was a completely different story.

Most days she wished she would just blend into the wall. Other days, today being one of them, she wished she was Sakura. With longing eyes, she had watched as Naruto asked the pink-haired girl to be in a group with him. Hinata sighed. What she wouldn't give if Naruto would just notice that she was in the room, let alone actually talk to her!

Suddenly, she thought she caught Kiba's eyes looking in her direction. Quickly, she looked down at her desk, her fingers tapping together rapidly. Her face felt like it was on fire. Had Kiba caught her spying?! She noticed that he too was staring over at Naruto's table. Hinata held her breath. She could only imagine just how ruby-red her normally pale skin must have looked.

"Damn Uchiha, taking all the fucking girls," Kiba muttered under his breath.

Hinata released a breath. Kiba hadn't been looking at her at all.

Hinata quickly glanced over at Kiba. It was then she noticed that he was scowling, his catlike pupils looking even more slit-like. Kiba was a bit scary when he got angry. Nervously, Hinata glanced around the room. And noticed that Kiba wasn't the only guy throwing jealous glares at Uchiha Sasuke's back; in fact, most guys in the class had scowls on their faces. Even her cousin looked frustrated.

Of course to anyone else Neji simply looked like he was concentrating hard on something. His eyes had narrowed slightly and his face looked deadly serious. To Hinata though, who was more familiar with her cousin's stoic demeanor, it seemed like something was troubling him. She followed the path of his eyes: it led to Sasuke's table. _So Neji-kun is also jealous of Sasuke-kun?_

Suddenly, Neji's eyes found hers. Hinata gasped uncontrollably. She had never seen so much emotion trapped within her cousin's eyes. His white orbs looked furious, more like a violent squall clashing against an icy lake. Hinata swiftly looked down at her table.

After waiting a moment, she seemed to get her breath back.

She had not been expecting that.

The look he had given her made her feel uncomfortable. If she wasn't his cousin she would have thought that he hated her or something. _He must really be angry at Sasuke-kun?!_

Hinata continued to focus on the dark maple surface of the table. Slowly she leaned her head forward in hopes that the cold surface would cool down her heated face. She was still trying to calm her quivering breath. It didn't seem right. She had seen all of those guys—her cousin included—acting like they were Sasuke's friends. Hinata couldn't help but feel for Sasuke, he'd never know their true opinion of him. Still, she couldn't judge Kiba or even Neji too harshly. She understood how they felt. Slowly, she raised her head up, her eyes drifting back over to look at the back of Naruto's head.

_Naruto-kun._

* * *

Neji had continued to watch Hinata for some time after she had looked away. Hinata was looking intently down at her desk. Where her full and slightly puffy lips hovered above the table surface, he could see breath vapor rapidly appearing and disappearing on the table wood. Neji knew she would never look up again, especially not after that awkward moment they had just shared.

Hinata leaned closer to the table, as if trying to hide in it. As she looked down, two medium-length strands of hair fell forward from either side of her face, the tips just barely brushing against the table surface. Neji could see a faint blush coloring the bridge of her nose and fanning out in a smooth line across her cheeks. At first she held her arms up against her chest tightly. Then, she let her arms drop to the table; slowly, she rested her weight on her forearms. As she was leaning forward, gravity made her blouse part a bit in the middle. Neji couldn't help noticing her pale breasts as they pressed heavily against the navy-colored fabric of her shirt. It was then that he noticed her skin down there was beginning to blush a rosy pink. Slowly, Neji released a breath. _Hinata_.

Somehow he had forced himself to turn around and face the front of the room. Absently his eyes found some random spot on the wall. He knew it was probably unnatural and extremely unhealthy for him to be thinking such thoughts about his own cousin. _But still…_

Suddenly, the thought that had infuriated him earlier returned.

Hinata had been watching _him_ again.

Neji's eyes narrowed in disgust as cold anger rose up in his gut. Quickly he focused his energy into not scowling; Neji never liked the idea of wearing his emotions on his face where everyone could see them. Emotions were a private matter. Only within the privacy of his own mind would he allow himself to express them. And inside his mind a bitter storm ragged, so intense it was almost blinding.

_Fucking, little Nine-tailed spawn!_ Underneath the table, Neji clutched his hand into a fist. At first, Neji thought he only had to worry about Kiba, given that the guy always seemed to want to hang around Hinata. But that was before Neji noticed Hinata's behavior around Naruto. He wanted to go over there and punch the little bastard into the floor. Still, what irked Neji all the more was that Naruto somehow had the gull to not even notice Hinata's feelings. As much as the image of Naruto and Hinata dating caused a fury of jealous to rise up within him, the idea of anyone ignoring Hinata made his blood run cold.

Inwardly, he took a deep and steadying breath. Cursing Naruto wouldn't make Hinata stop liking him. Nor would it make his cousin suddenly notice him as anything other than family. He knew he probably should be thankful that Hinata would never look at him that way; it wasn't like his father and uncle would ever approve.

The class around him had finally settled down. Still, most student—and by _most_ _students_ meaning most girls in the classroom—were still grumbling over Tsunade's last minute announcement about them having already chosen a partner for CPR demonstrations. Neji took this moment to glance at his own partner from out of the corner of his eye. Akimichi Choji was sitting next to him; the boy had chubby cheeks, a large waist and an even larger appetite.

Inwardly Neji groaned; this sucked. He should never have signed up for this class to begin with. And he probably wouldn't have, had he not seen Hinata's schedule one Saturday afternoon when his uncle and cousins had come over for a barbeque. He just happened to glance over his dad's shoulder when he saw Hinata handing a paper over to him enthusiastically. When Neji saw that she had signed up for First Aid, he couldn't have been more pleased. He still needed to take a health class to fulfill the high school requirement. Finally, he'd get to be in a class with Hinata. Since his cousin was a grade younger than him in school it made things like taking the same classes impossible.

Unfortunately on the first day of classes, his father needed him to open the store before he left for school so he ended up coming ten minutes late. When he got there Hinata was already sitting next to Kiba. So grudgingly, he went and took the only empty seat available and that was next to Choji.

Neji cursed inwardly. Of all people why did it have to be _chip-eater_ Choji?! If only Shikamaru and Temari hadn't started dating in the last few weeks of the previous semester, then perhaps Choji would have shared a table with Shikamaru. He heard they were friends. Honestly, anyone was looking better at this moment.

"Tsunade-sensei," said Neji, glad his voice still sounded controlled and stoic, "We are going to be using mouthpieces, right?" Choji was still munching away wildly on some chips sending salt and vinegar fragments everywhere.

"For sanitation sake?" he added. It still amazed him that Choji had ended up getting permission to eat in class. Though, having a doctor who is also your father apparently helps. Because after Choji had brought in his doctor's note, the teachers had to stop complaining about the chips and the mess Choji normally made eating them. Neji wished for a moment he could tear up that note.

"If we don't use mouthpieces," Ino cut in, "Then maybe we should switch groups, you know, so we can be with people we _know_ are sanitary." Here her eyes came to rest on Sasuke.

"Sounds fitting coming from a pig," Sakura snapped back at Ino.

"I want you to all be prepared for any situation." Tsunade replied, her face suddenly serious. "Think of it this way: what happens if you find a person that needs CPR and you do not have a mouthpiece present? What would you do then, just let him or her die?"

One glance at Choji's oily lips scattered here and there with the occasional piece of chip, gave Neji his answer.

* * *

Over on the other side of the room, Naruto was also grimacing at the thought of not using a mouthpiece. He had sort of been counting on that fact. Well, he originally thought he would be practicing on the class dummy. And then he got his hopes up (and dashed down) about being in a group with Sakura. Now the idea of performing CPR on Sasuke without using a mouthpiece sounded even more daunting. Of course, he could have received a lot worse of a partner. Even from where he was sitting, he could hear Choji still munching away on his chips; no wonder why Neji was putting up so much of a fight (much of a fight, at least, for his usual quiet persona, that is).

Part of him, a part that Naruto was not comfortable even admitting to himself, actually was kind of interested in seeing how Sasuke's lips felt like. That part suddenly started to hope that Tsunade would _not_ have them use mouthpieces. Naruto quickly pushed it away. _Why the fuck would I even think something like that? I __**said**__ I'm not gay!_

Naruto was now starting to dread this. He was really hoping that Tsunade would force them to use the mouthpiece. _What if she makes it optional?_ For a moment he was afraid of having a choice when it came to using the mouthpiece. _What if my body moves on its own account and performs CPR on Sasuke anyway without the mouthpiece?_ He imagined himself performing CPR on Sasuke, but instead his body seemed to go out of his control and begin to forcibly kiss Sasuke. Suddenly, Sasuke's face jumped into his mental view, as he pushed Naruto off of him. Naruto had never seen Sasuke looking so repulsed.

_But I'm not gay, _he thought helplessly,_ I like Sakura-chan!_

It was then that he remembered last night, and the weird look Sasuke had given him when he had pinned him to the floor during their play wrestling. In that one horrifying moment, Naruto had thought that Sasuke was going to kiss him. Suddenly the thought hit him:

_What if Sasuke's gay?_

Again, he saw himself performing mouth-to-mouth on Sasuke; only this time Sasuke's hand caught him and held him there for a strong and what looked to be painful kiss.

_Dammit! Damn old hag_. Naruto cursed. Though it was the farthest insult he could use to describe the youthful looking, and almost porn star quality, Tsunade-sama. Still Naruto liked to tease his First Aid teacher saying that she looked old, simply because he knew he could get under her skin.

It was then that Naruto noticed Sasuke shifting his notebook to a different position on the table. Quickly he glanced at Sasuke. Sasuke hadn't so much as made a sound; he just stared emotionlessly at the teacher. _How the hell can he be so cool about this anyway? _Naruto thought angrily.

* * *

Sasuke however, underneath his indifferent exterior, was starting to freak out. He was going to have to perform CPR on Naruto, actual mouth to mouth. No, he couldn't. What if his stupid hormones came out? There was no way he would be caught blushing like a moron with his lips to Naruto's in the middle of class, of all places!

However, there wasn't much option; hopefully Tsunade-sensei wasn't that much of a bitch as to make them perform the procedure without a mouthpiece. Somehow though Sasuke felt a bit relieved; at least it was Naruto and not one of his annoying fangirls. Sasuke had no doubt that they would do more than just touch their lips to his. At least Naruto would be practical and leave him his space.

It was then that last night's events began to haunt his thoughts. Suddenly, Sasuke started to have second thoughts. Last night Naruto had acted so clingy; he had been pretty much all over him. _He didn't seem to be able to keep his fucking distance!_ Then Naruto had almost seemed oblivious to his actions, as if he had been totally unaware that he was making Sasuke uncomfortable (and starting to feel crazy things, but Sasuke didn't let his thoughts remind him of that). Sasuke couldn't help worrying about how Naruto would act today now that he was actually being forced to evade Sasuke's space?

* * *

"Ok, if we can have no more interruptions." Tsunade-sensei said, "I want one member of your group to come get a mat, while the other come and pick up two sets of mouthpieces. Hurry up, we don't have all day!"

When Tsunade-sensei spoke the word _mouthpieces_, Naruto wasn't the only one in the class to let out a sigh of relief. Neji also looked pretty relieved, and even Ten Ten looked like she could go through with the demonstration regardless if she got stuck with Lee as her CPR partner.

Naruto's let out a deep breath of relief, his shoulders visibly sagging. Perhaps this wouldn't be that bad, after all.

The students left their seats. Naruto going for the object closest to him, Sasuke going for the opposite one. In the end, Naruto picked up the mat and Sasuke got the mouthpieces.

"Alright," Tsunade-sensei said, before muttering under her breath, "I'm gonna need a partner for this."

Turning to the partly opened door at the back of the classroom she yelled:

"Shizune!" The ear-piercing scream making Hinata jump from her table all the way in the back of the classroom. "A little help here!"

A dark-haired woman poked her head out from the door. Shizune was the school nurse and Tsunade-sensei's personal assistant. So, it was not on accident then that the classroom used to house all health-related classes was adjacent to the school clinic, with Tsunade's office acting as a gateway between the two rooms.

Shizune swung the door open widely. Naruto could see a sliver of the room on the other side of Tsunade's office. A red-haired student was sitting on the edge of one of the four dull, blue-color beds that made up the school clinic. It looked like he was holding a clear icepack against the back of his elbow.

As she closed the door, Naruto heard Shizune say into the office behind her: "Just continue to put ice on it, okay Gaara-kun?" Before she pulled the door firmly shut behind her.

"Tsunade-sama?" She asked, "What do you need?" Though she addressed the teacher respectfully, her tone wasn't very respectful at all. She sighed as her eyes found the mat that Tsunade was patting her hand against.

"I was kind of in the middle of something, so make it quick."

"As always, Shizune," Tsunade said dryly, "Thank you for your wonderful assistance."

"Whatever," Shizune said as she lied down upon the mat.

"Ok class, I will demonstrate," Tsunade-sensei said, "However, after this, if anyone still messes up, it's cause you're a lost cause."

"The first thing we need to do before we ever begin CPR on a patient is to check his vitals to see if CPR needs to be applied."

Shizune's eyes snapped opened. "Him? Don't you mean, _her_, Tsunade-sama?!"

Tsunade cleared her throat. Shizune rolled her eyes, before shutting them again.

Then Tsunade knelt beside the woman. "Remember the ABCs."

"Airway," Tsunade-sensei said, tipping Shizune's head back. The assistant flinched a little but otherwise allowed the movement. "Tip the head back and lift the chin until the teeth are almost touching; this will allow the proper airway needed for your patient's breathing."

"Then," Tsunade leaned closer to the other woman, and continued speaking; perhaps it was her angle but her voice sounded softer. "Check to see if the patient is breathing." Shizune shivered slightly, her eyes fluttering open, before she quickly shut them again.

Tsunade leaned her ear over Shizune's mouth. She paused, listening to the sound of Shizune's breathing. For a moment, she seemed to hesitate above her assistant's mouth before she took her ear away.

Sitting up Tsunade put her hand on Shizune's wrist, "Since _he_ is not breathing"—("bitch," Shizune muttered)—"next we need to check for a pulse."

"Upon finding none, or a very faint one," Tsunade-sensei continued, "We now begin CPR."

Still addressing the class she bent over Shizune, "You will alternate between chest compressions and breaths."

"Clearly human beings need their heart to beat over their breathing any day, so more chest compressions are to be given than breaths." She seemed to smirk at this before continuing, "We're gonna go with the ratio 2/30. That is for every two breaths the patient will then get thirty heart compressions."

From his seat in the front row table, Lee nodded affirmatively.

"Ok, 2/30! Right, Tsunade-sensei!" he shouted. Ten Ten just rolled her eyes as if thinking how on earth she had managed to sit next to Lee on the first day.

"Now, let's take a look at the mouthpiece," Tsunade-sensei said, taking the mouthpiece in her left hand she held it up to the class.

Naruto looked at the mouthpiece. It was an elliptical piece of plastic that contained what looked like circles on the back of it. It didn't look to Naruto that the circles did anything practical; they just seemed to be there for looks. In the middle of the mouthpiece it looked like the lid of a pipe had been screwed on. Inside the pipe was a small valve-like skin that had a slight separation in the middle; this presumably was how the air was allowed to flow from the resuscitator to the patient.

"First, place the mouthpiece over the patient's mouth." Tsunade-sensei said. Shizune's eyes opened at this.

"Cover the patient's mouth fully—" Here the teacher covered Shizune's mouth, cheeks and chin with the mouthpiece. "—Using the suction cups on the back to keep it firmly in place." She began pressing the mouthpiece down firmly, the small circles on the back of the mouthpiece spreading to capture the _patient's_ skin beneath. _So the circles on the back are not just there for looks_, Naruto thought as he noticed the circles acting like suction cups to hold the mouthpiece into place against Shizune's face.

Shizune closed her eyes giving a bored look; perhaps this wasn't the first time Tsunade had used her in a demonstration. Either that or the assistant had great trust in the teacher.

"If the person is not breathing we hold the nose shut, but in either case, we will breathe two, full breaths into the mouthpiece," Tsunade said, "In here, I want you to practice when the patient is not breathing."

Then she squeezed her fingers over Shizune's nose. With that she covered the lid of the mouthpiece with her lips and breathed into it. Two, somewhat lengthy breaths later, she pulled back and went over to Shizune's chest.

"Next, put your hands in the center of the patient's chest." Shizune visibly blushed as Tsunade placed her palms into the valley between her breasts.

"After placing one hand on top of the other, like this," Tsunade seemed to press her cupped palms a little deeper between Shizune's breasts as she got into position. Shizune looked uncomfortable, as if she was holding her breath. "Now make thirty terse compressions," Tsunade continued.

"However, since in our case the patient is very much alive, I want you to press lightly." She told the class, "And patients breathe out of your nose while the resuscitator is applying chest compressions if you find it difficult to breath through the mouthpiece."

Tsunade-sensei performed several more chest compressions before she stopped and leaned down to breathe two more full breathes into her assistant's mouth. Naruto felt his eyes bulge out of his skull has he watched; he was amazed he wasn't salivating.

_Holy shit, that's hot! _He wondered if any of the other guys in class were also enjoying it as much as he was.

Casually he looked over at Sasuke. As always though, Sasuke's face was the epitome of stoicism. Oh well, he could always imagine that Sasuke was getting turned on by the scene. For some reason, the thought of Sasuke getting off from the scene in front of them, made the entire thing only seem hotter.

Finally Tsunade stood up. Shizune remained on the mat for a few moments afterwards before she got up and went back into Tsunade's office again.

"Ok brats, you're turn!" Tsunade-sensei said, and then she smirked, "Oh there is just one more thing I forgot to mention."

Some of the class began muttering underneath their breaths.

"Since this is practice for real life we will be using the program mentioned in the book to monitor your patient's progress."

"If you can't get your patient to be in a suitable condition by the time the _paramedics arrive_, both of you will get a zero. Have fun!" And with that Tsunade turned and went into her office, closing the door behind her.

"What program?" Naruto asked shocked.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes. "If you would have read the book, dobe, you would have known."

"Well, you complaining at how I should have read the book don't make me automatically read it; so tell me what it said!"

Sasuke again rolled his eyes, before he grabbed the mouse of the nearby computer. From inside the Windows XP desktop, Sasuke double-clicked a program called "Virtual Patient." Naruto went to look over Sasuke's shoulder curiously. He had to get pretty close to see the text on the screen due to its high resolution. He leaned an elbow on Sasuke's shoulder so as to keep his balance. Sasuke could hear the sounds of Naruto's light breathing. This close to Naruto, he could feel the heat radiating off of his body, making Naruto's orange shirt feel pleasantly warm. Yet, Sasuke ignored it and tried to focus on the program.

"Here's the short version of this," Sasuke said tersely. Naruto nodded. "The program comes with a sensatory device that will listen to the sound of your breathing while you apply the breaths; this device will be used to fill a meter on the screen; the weaker you breathe, the slower the meter will fill up."

"Ok, sounds strange, but doable I guess." Naruto said.

"Next," Sasuke continued, "There will be a timer that will start the moment you begin the CPR; if you do not get the meter to reach a certain threshold before the timer runs out, then your patient _dies_."

"Oh, that's what she meant by getting your patient in a suitable condition." Naruto said.

"Clearly." Sasuke said, still setting up the program, then he continued, "Each person has three tries to _save_ their patient, in case you can't do it the first attempt; I'll go first."

"What?" Naruto asked, "Why you?"

"Cause I know what I'm doing, while you should probably wait and see how it's done."

"I just watched Tsunade-sensei give a live demo,"—though here the only thoughts in Naruto's head about the CPR demonstration were of how hot it had been to see Tsunade and Shizune nearing kissing at the front of the class, still he kept on talking—"I know what to do; I'm not that dense, you know?"

"If you say so," Sasuke said, "but I'm still going first, so lie down."

"But teme?" Naruto said, eyeing the mat, "What did she mean by the whole _before the paramedics arrive _thing?"

"It's just the stupid jargon used in the book that means one person has used up all three tries," Sasuke said, taking hold of the mouthpiece, "Just lie down."

Naruto grimaced as he lied down on the mat. Sasuke knelt beside him, placing the sensatory device on the opposite side of Naruto's head. Naruto eyed it wearily.

"Just don't blow so hard that you explode a lung, ok bastard?"

Sasuke smirked at that.

"That wasn't a joke, teme!"

"Just shut up so I can put this mouthpiece on you."

Naruto closed his mouth. Sasuke covered it with the plastic mouthpiece.

"Ok, ready?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded. But as soon as Sasuke went down to blow into the mouthpiece, Naruto burst out laughing.

"What idiot?"

"I'm sorry," Naruto said between laughs, his voice muffled by the plastic. "It's just that it tickles."

"Well, hold it in."

"I can't hold it in."

Sasuke got in a better position and squeezed Naruto's nose shut. Then he leaned down and breathed into Naruto's mouth. Naruto's eyes widened; Sasuke's breath felt forceful enough to blow up a balloon. For a moment, Naruto felt weird. It was like his only source of oxygen was coming through Sasuke. Plus the mouthpiece wasn't very thick, so there was only a thin line between Sasuke's lips and his own. It sort of felt like he was kissing Sasuke without actually feeling his lips. Naruto's face was starting to feel a bit hot. Not to mention, he felt like his eyes were about to pop out of his head. Still he couldn't make himself relax.

From this angle, Sasuke's face looked magnified. He had just started focusing on Sasuke's eyebrows—he never noticed the fairer strands that looked almost blond coming down towards the bridge of his nose?—when suddenly a thick clump of Sasuke's hair fell forward and left Naruto in darkness.

Sasuke pulled back, shifting his bodyweight on to his knees as he leaned over Naruto's chest. Naruto felt Sasuke's hands rest on his chest, one of Sasuke's palms over the other.

"Now, don't kill me, Sasuke-teme." Naruto said from beneath the plastic. This had been a bad idea. Before when Sasuke had blown into it, he must have pressed the mouthpiece so tight against Naruto's mouth that the air couldn't escape out of the sides, this coupled with the fact that the valve inside the mouthpiece caused most of his breath to stay inside the mask instead of exiting out through the hole. Naruto chocked and started to breathe through his nose.

* * *

Sasuke just smirked when he saw the dilemma Naruto had got himself into. He continued to make light compressions against his chest. His facial features were perfectly neutral; however inside he couldn't help but feel stupid. He must have looked retarded doing this! He glanced quickly over to the meter. His last two breaths had raised it only about two percent; still ninety-eight percent more to go.

Thirty rapid compressions later, Sasuke went back over to Naruto's face.

"Did you move this by talking?" He asked. Naruto was about to open his mouth, when Sasuke cut him off.

"Don't respond."

Lifting the mouthpiece off of Naruto's face to get the air out from under it, Sasuke then pressed it back over Naruto's mouth.

* * *

Naruto was desperately trying not to laugh again as the suction cups from inside the mouthpiece began tickling his face. When the next thing he knew Sasuke's fingers were plugging his nose, before Sasuke's mouth again covered the mouthpiece.

Again, Naruto could only breathe Sasuke's breath. He was starting to feel a funny, fluttering feeling down in his gut; for an instant, he wanted to grab hold of Sasuke's shirt just to feel like he had some control. Sasuke breathed again into him, Naruto kept staring at his friend. Sasuke wore such a serious look of concentration on his face that Naruto again wanted to laugh, but Sasuke was still holding his nose and he didn't want to choke again.

* * *

Sasuke covered the valve with his mouth. The plastic tasted awful, a bitter almost metallic taste. But, Sasuke ignored it. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke exhaled into Naruto's mouth. Fuck, did he feel self-conscious! He hoped his breath didn't smell. Thankfully though he had a habit of chewing a tic-tac every hour or so, so perhaps it would be okay. Still, Naruto's wide, almost bug-eyed look did nothing to decrease Sasuke's discomfort.

To shut out Naruto's uncomfortably-staring eyes, Sasuke focused as hard as he could on the CPR procedure, which he kept repeating over and over in his mind. Thankfully, only two breaths were needed. So after the first awkward breath, he only had to force one more out before he could jump up and start the compressions. Or rather, pound stupidly against Naruto's chest for 30 times straight. Sasuke thought he would surely die from embarrassment.

* * *

Naruto felt Sasuke's fingers let go of his nose. He could breathe again. Sasuke was leaning over his chest and making light compressions; his movements were terse, no amount of energy wasted. Before he knew it, Sasuke's mouth was pressed against the mouthpiece again. Naruto didn't feel like laughing anymore, if fact he couldn't even feel the suction cups tickling his cheeks at all. Instead he felt Sasuke's hair covering his forehead. It was thick and felt a bit heavy, but Naruto didn't really mind it.

One of Sasuke's hands had tipped Naruto's chin upwards, Sasuke's fingers lightly urging Naruto's face closer as he bent down and covered his lips over the lid of the mouthpiece again. Naruto's brain was starting to turn into a mushy haze; he closed his eyes as he felt Sasuke's breath enter him. It felt strange breathing Sasuke's air, and yet it felt liberating at the same time. Naruto felt as if Sasuke owned his life; as if Sasuke's breath was filling his lungs and Sasuke's hands were beating his heart. _Sasuke,_ Naruto's whispered in his mind. Slowly, he surrendered his control over to his friend. When Sasuke breathed, Naruto breathed. He never felt safer in his entire life; Sasuke wouldn't let him die.

* * *

Sasuke was starting to get the hang of this. Oddly, though he felt more uncomfortable now than when he first started. It was Naruto's strange stillness that seemed to rile up Sasuke's nerves. Once Naruto had started laughing at the beginning, Sasuke had been expecting him to keep doing that the entire time through. Though, the idea of Naruto making the whole process a hell of a lot harder by laughing the entire time had pissed Sasuke off. But after that one outbrust Naruto had remained silent. And now that Naruto was silent, Sasuke secretly wanted to him start laughing or talking, or just doing _something_ again. Even Naruto's uncomfortable, bug-eyed stare was better than this! Instead Sasuke was left with nothing to distract his mind. Now, each time he blew into the pipe of the mouthpiece, he could feel the plastic around it further taking the shape of Naruto's mouth. And every time his hand brushed past Naruto's chin or his fingers fumbled over Naruto's cheek as he went to plug his nose, Sasuke's mind seemed to linger on the warmth radiating from his friend's tanned skin. Yeah, Sasuke would have much rather had a distraction.

The meter on the screen was about half full. Still Naruto remained silent. In the ghostly silence that had engulfed them, Sasuke began to notice subtle changes in his friend's demeanor. Like the light fluttering of Naruto's golden eyelashes every time Sasuke breathed into his mouth. Or the rapid pounding of Naruto's heart beneath Sasuke's fingers has he performed light compressions against his friend's chest.

--

Sasuke was leaning over Naruto performing his twenty-third compression out of thirty, when it seemed like for the first time he actually got a good at Naruto. Without his usual thoughts of denial, frustration and anger, he actually had time to take in his friend's appearance. What shocked Sasuke was how subtly beautiful Naruto's face did in fact look.

Sasuke rarely looked at his friend. Whenever he did Naruto's face was normally covered by that wide, shit-eating grin that made Sasuke want to punch him hard. But not now. Now it was like Naruto's calm demeanor allowed the light time to actually touch his features. Sasuke watched with strange fascination as the light filtering through the side window seemed to highlight the curve of Naruto's cheekbone as it dipped down to his smooth jaw. Oddly, even the scars that haphazardly adored both of his cheeks seemed to only make Naruto looked more perfect, and almost precious in Sasuke's eyes. For one moment, Sasuke found that he wanted to stroke his hand through the turfs of Naruto's vivid blond hair.

* * *

Naruto no longer opened his eyes. He just lied there enjoying the feeling of being in Sasuke's care. The world around him seemed to both slow down and quicken at the same time. Just when Naruto was getting used to feeling Sasuke's hands on his chest, Sasuke would be over him again, breathing into his mouth. Sasuke's lips felt so firm and secure against the mouthpiece. Naruto felt a low, almost inaudible moan rumble in the back of his throat. He felt like he couldn't remember a time when Sasuke's mouth hadn't covered his, as if Sasuke's breaths had become his own. Then, as if no time had occurred at all, Sasuke's lips would leave his, and then Sasuke's hands would be on his chest again. Naruto wasn't certain how long this went on; he was completely lost in the euphoria of the moment.

Suddenly, the mouthpiece was plied off of his lips. Cold air hit his skin as the moist air trapped within the mouthpiece quickly evaporated.

Naruto blinked open his eyes, almost groggily.

For a moment he was a bit confused as to where he was. Suddenly the scrapping of a chair against the floor awaken Naruto's mind to the fact that he was still in his First Aid class. The murmur of voices around him seemed to bring about the first signs of shame. Just what the hell was he doing?

He had been lying there, almost moaning, while Sasuke had been performing mouth-to-mouth on him. _Shit!_ Naruto inwardly cursed as he realized just how bad that sounded. Suddenly, he was angry. Why the hell had his fucking teacher made them do something stupid like that anyway? It would have been easier to just use the fucking manikin?!

_Dammit! Stupid hag!_ Dangerously he looked about the room looking for anyone that might be laughing at him. But no one seemed to be looking at him at all, every one no doubt busy with his or her own CPR demonstrations.

Just then, he saw Sasuke from the edge of his periphery. Suddenly cold fear struck his gut. What if Sasuke heard him moan?! Naruto's stomach felt knotted with shame; any moment now he expected Sasuke to burst out laughing at him.

But Sasuke didn't laugh. Nor was he making fun of him yet. Perhaps he hadn't heard Naruto's little slip up?

Naruto turned his head slightly so as to observe his friend. Sasuke was still kneeling on the ground next to him examining the sensatory device. The next minute, Sasuke had pushed himself off of the ground, his fingertips lightly grazing the floor in the process.

For a moment Naruto's eyes lingered on Sasuke's hands. His mind went back to how strong Sasuke's hands had felt, and yet how gentle they seemed too. _They didn't crush my chest._

Sasuke's hands ran through his hair quickly. Naruto's eyes followed the movement, traveling down Sasuke's face until they came to rest on his lips. For one moment, he was back lying on the mat, underneath his friend, as Sasuke's lips were breathing air through the mouthpiece and into his lungs. He had been breathing Sasuke's air...

_He didn't even suffocate me. It actually was pretty okay. _Perhaps his mind was just stating the obvious, either that or just babbling, but he didn't stop his thoughts. _Perhaps being that close to Sasuke isn't so bad after all_. Naruto felt the knot in his stomach loosen a bit. Slowly, the left side of his lip began to tug into a smile; for some reason the world seemed a bit more peaceful than it did at the beginning of the class.

Naruto continued to watch his friend. Sasuke gingerly rolled his shoulders back as if to free up some tension. Then he went over to his chair at their table. Before he sat down, he tilted his neck slightly to the right in a light stretch. Naruto felt his smile deepen as he mentally traced the nice curve Sasuke's neck made with his broad shoulders. Then Sasuke sunk down into his seat, which was nearest to the computer.

"Well, you survived," Sasuke said his eyes on the computer screen. From his angle on the floor, Naruto could see that the meter on the screen was completely filled up.

Naruto felt a lazy yawn coming on. Closing his eyes a moment to give into the yawn, he then went back to watching his friend. For some reason Sasuke looked different. Though as to why he did, or what exactly was different about him, Naruto didn't know.

Sasuke still wasn't looking at him; instead, his eyes were scanning the screen as his mouse hand moved slightly. Naruto couldn't see what exactly he was clicking on the screen; it was too far away and the resolution made the contents appears too tiny. Then Sasuke looked away from the monitor and down to the paper sitting on the table right next to the keyboard. Dark, somewhat lengthy bangs fell forward and hid his eyes as Sasuke leaned forward to fill out the paper in front of him. Naruto just continued to watch him.

"Now it's your turn." Sasuke said, sitting up, his hair falling out of his eyes with a slight jerk of his head.

"And Tsunade-sensei gave us another fifteen minutes, so we have lots of time." Sasuke continued, putting down his pencil. Then he picked up his own mouthpiece from on top of his black notebook.

"She did, when?" Naruto asked: had it really taken Sasuke that long? Or rather had Naruto just been out of it? "How long did it take you?"

"Five minutes; maybe less," Sasuke answered, "She just told us that a minute ago, weren't you listening?"

"Guess not," Naruto muttered. He pulled himself off of the mat, before quickly sitting back down again. Embarrassment instantly coloring his cheeks a light pink, Naruto was really glad that he was wearing his orange, baggy pants today, otherwise he would have to explain to Sasuke why he had a hard on after the CPR session. Perhaps it was the hard on in his pants and the fact that he needed to bring it down in a hurry, but Naruto's short-lived euphoria ended. It was then an even more terrifying thought entered his head: now he had to perform CPR on Sasuke!

* * *

A/N: This was a bit of a lengthy chapter. Let me know if that bothers anyone!

Anyways, sorry again for the LOOONG wait; I think I said I've have one by April, was it?! Oh, and if anyone was bothered by the yuri-hints between Tsunade and Shizune, sorry... guess I should have thrown a warning in about that. But, don't worry if that bothered you, cause the story is mainly about Naruto and Sasuke, so you won't see a lot of that (and nothing in detail definitely). This goes for the other potential pairings that were introduced in this chapter. But, it wouldn't be a full story without other people and their dramas, right :P

Anyways tell me what you think :)


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